Familiar of Zero - Beauty of Dawn
by VulcanicaDraskir
Summary: All Louise wanted was a familiar to prove that she was capable of being a mage. All she got was a seemingly ordinary man, barely older than her. With a heart of gold and a soul more powerful than all others, he will lead Halkeginia into a new age... whether they're ready for it or not. Warning: OC-Insertion. Rated T for language. Chapter 7 in progress. Please review.
1. Chapter 1 - In a New World - Part 1

**Author's Note:**

_This is my first attempt at creating a fanfiction! I do sincerely apologize if it isn't up to standards. I'm somewhat OCD about reading fics; It irks me to no end when a fic doesn't have proper spelling or grammar. I'm gonna try my best to live up to my own standards regarding these two points, but I may not notice some smaller errors; please feel free to offer criticism! It will be accepted on the sole condition that any criticism is constructive, and not destructive._

_Moving on to this fic; This is partly a self-insertion to the usual "new familiar" story that gets thrown around. I say partly, because the OC here is one that I created based on myself, but also everything that I wish I could be. The OC will respond to each situation and become attached to each character in the same way that I myself would._

_Also, It may seem like he's a bit of a "Gary Stu" or something like that, but I'm trying to develop his power in such a way that while he does have incredible strength, there are risks to using that power for extended periods._

_There may also be elements that you recognize from other fics; this is not intentional! I was heavily inspired by the fantastic "Hill of Swords" by Gabriel Blessing. I've also spent a lot of time trying to find other works by other people._

_But that's enough of me talking now; Let's begin with the story!_

**_Edit:_**_I've changed the summary a bit, should be a bit more accurate to the currently planned story._

* * *

><p>"Have a good day everyone", I said as I walked out the front door of my work place.<p>

Barely catching the half hearted replies, I made my way around to the back of the building. I quickly slipped on my sling pack, and unlocked my bike from it's post, and sped away.

My name was Draskir. It wasn't my legal name, but it was the name that I deferred to when confronted with situations that might seem... less than legitimate. Consider it an alias of sorts.

I was a bit tall for my family. Standing at roughly 6'2", I towered over most of my family, with very few exceptions. My hair fell just above the shoulders, and was between brown and dirty-blonde, I had never really discerned a difference. My eyes were a hazel color; and apparently very large, on account of the few people who ever mentioned it.

I would be the first to admit that I was a bit... lazy. When I wasn't at work, I was probably sitting around playing video games, or watching anime. Standard Otaku, if not generic. It wasn't a bad life though; experiencing adventure and story, engaging in thrilling battle, that sort of thing excited me. I had been a gamer since I was old enough to hold a controller, and ultimately, I wanted to be a video game designer.

Currently, I worked at the popular family restaurant, IHOP. The place was famous for it's pancakes, but it sold all kinds of meals, for all times of the day. I liked my co-workers well enough, but I wanted to start looking for other lines of work. Being a dishwasher at a restaurant only granted minimum wage, which was just over nine dollars per hour. It's not a bad start for an eighteen year old, but with my ambition, I needed to move up as quickly as possible.

Little did I know, however, I wouldn't need to worry about that anymore.

I worked the graveyard shift, so I usually got off of work at around three in the morning, which was great since it left the roads almost completely empty for me to ride my bike on. I turned out of the driveway for the IHOP parking lot, and began my descent down the hills towards my home. I was half way down the largest hill when a green light appeared in front of me. It happened so suddenly, I had no time to slow down, or even think of trying.

I passed through the strange light, and everything went dark.

**[Scene Break]**

It was mid-day, near the beginning of spring, at the Tristain Magic Academy. One of the many classes was gathered in a courtyard, to perform the "Springtime Familiar Summoning Ritual". It was a ritual that was required for every student at the start of their second year.

In this particular class, there was a girl who had failed the Ritual, twice. Her name was Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere. She was a small thing, short and thin. Her bright pink hair fell down just past her waist, and her matching eyes were full of panic.

"You should just give up!" shouted one of her class-mates, a tall red-head by the name of Kirche. Kirche was significantly more built, with her very well endowed chest, and dark skin, she had an almost exotic look to her.

"You've failed twice already, stop before you blow us up again!" yelled yet another student, a short blonde whose name was Montmeroncy.

"That's enough of that, students", said a balding older man sternly. His name was Colbert, and he was a professor at the Academy. He spoke once more "Miss Valliere, please try again."

Gulping, Louise began to chant once more.

"_I beg of you..."_

"There she goes again, with that strange incantation", muttered Montmeroncy, holding on to her familiar, Robin the Frog.

_"My servant that lives somewhere in the universe..."_

"Where does she come up with these things?" asked blonde young boy, whose name was Guiche.

"_My divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant! Heed my call, as I wish from the bottom of my heart! Answer to my guidance!"_

Louise looked on expectantly, but... nothing happened. A ring of laughter broke out again, as Louise fell to her knees, as her sorrow began to well up inside her.

"Not even an explosion this time!" laughed Kirche, "That's our little Zero!"

Louise's body began shaking as her anger and sadness continued to rise.

_'I have to do something!' _she thought desperately. _'Please... just let me summon something, anything!' _Her thoughts of the constant failure in her life continued like a whirlwind, and her emotions reached a peak as she reached out, desperately trying to connect with something that she could summon.

Suddenly, she stilled, and rose up slowly. Her eyes became glossy, as if she had been hypnotized. Her wand hand rose straight up into the air, and she began chanting again, a completely different chant, as if the words came by instinct. The laughter died out quickly at this, and Louise's peers looked on with mild amusement.

"_An icy glacier in the North... Two sandy dunes in the South... Three rocky peaks in the East... Four stormy seas in the West..."_

This strange new chant caught the attention of Professor Colbert, who began memorizing every word in order to attempt research at a later point.

"_From the ground below, to the skies above... Reach out, across reality, into another beyond our own!"_

_"Hear me, being of ultimate wisdom and strength!"_

_"Hear my cry, and answer to the will of my soul!"_

**_Kra-boom!_**

An explosion broke out, more powerful than any Louise had ever caused, nearly knocking everyone off of their feet. Coughing, Louise backed away from the edge of the large cloud, just as a figure flew out. The Figure flew straight over her head, and crashed some distance behind her. Turning sharply, Louise sought quickly to get a glimpse of the being she summoned, hope filling her very core.

Her eyes fell upon her summon, and hope turned to dread. It was a young man, atop a strange contraption of metal and wheels. Groaning, the young man slowly pushed himself up to a standing position, warily looking around.

"The Zero summoned a commoner..."

"Maybe she's just paying him?"

_'I summoned a... a human!?' _Louise thought.

As he stood, Louise was able to get a full glimpse of the young man. He was rather tall, at least a full head above her height. He had brown hair, which fell just above his shoulders. The man was wearing black pants, and a red shirt, with a black jacket that had four pockets on the front, two on each side of the zipper. The man reached behind his back, and pulled a small device from his orange, single-strap backpack, and began fiddling with it.

"W-well, Miss Valliere, it seems you have summoned a familiar," stated Colbert, eyeing the young man.

"Ha! The zero summoned a commoner!" Kirche joked, "The Zero got a zero familiar, huh?"

"It was just a small screw up, Zerbst!" shouted Louise, "Professor! Please let my try again!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Colbert sighed, "Such an act would violate the traditions of this sacred ritual. Please seal the contract."

"V-very well..." sighed Louise, eliciting another round of laughter from her peers. '_How could I summon a commoner?'_ She trudged up to the young man. He was looking around with curiosity, and his attention turned to Louise when he found her suddenly next to him, her wand held vertically in front of her.

_"My name is Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere. Pentagon of the Five Powers, bless this man and make him my familiar!"_

Louise then grabbed the mans collar to pull his head down to her, and kissed him directly on the lips. The mans eyes widened in shock, and pulled away immediately. It seemed he was about to become angry, when his left arm began to glow. The man looked down sharply, hold said arm up to inspect the change. The arm began emitting smoke, and runes appeared on the side of his forearm, extending from his elbow to just before his pinky finger.

_'It should be over by now,' _thought Louise. Still the runes continued to burn, despite no additional runes appearing anywhere else. After several tense moments of continued branding, the man's eyes began to glow with an ethereal tinge. The energy on the man's iris was colored white, while the rest of the energy flowing from the eyes was a faint orange.

Suddenly, the man began to float several feet into the air, and Louise backed the same distance away from him. The ethereal energy fully enclosed the man's body as he hung in the air, with the white energy shifting to a darker blue hue, before fading to white again. Suddenly, the energy flew skyward, and took the shape of an ethereal dragon. The ether-dragon continued it's ascent for about a hundred yards, before arching backwards and beginning a free-fall directly towards the man again.

At the moment the ether-dragon crashed back into the man, a bright light blinded everyone present, just as a force of wind blew everyone back. Only Louise stood, having been trained to withstood such an impact by the constant volatile failure of her spells.

The wind dissipated, and the light receded, revealing the young man lying face up on the ground, barely conscious. When Louise approached and knelt by his side, he looked up at her with a strained look.

"W-what the hell _am _I?" he whispered, before succumbing completely to unconsciousness.

**[Scene Break]**

_'Cold. I'm very cold.'_

_'What was I doing before? I can't remember.'_

_'Where am I?' I took a look around. There was snow blowing along the rocky crags around me. The sky was very cloudy, snow falling heavily. In spite of the snowfall, I couldn't see my breath in front of me. I realized that I was on the peak of a mountain._

_'How did I get here?' As I thought that, I felt the air shift behind me. I tried turn and see what was going on, but the act seemed to take forever._

_'Just a little more...' I pushed myself to try and turn faster, but just as I was about to see the source of the shift, my vision faded..._

...and I shot up into a sitting position. I looked down at myself, and saw that I was still wearing my work uniform.

"How long was I out...?" I asked myself, holding one hand up against my forehead.

"About three hours", said an annoyed female voice to my right. I looked over sharply, and saw the pink-hair girl from before, reading a book at a table off to one side of the moderately sized room. She had an annoyed expression on her face. I moved to a better position with my feet on the floor, and continued looking around the room. After a moment, I spotted my jacket and sling-pack hanging from another chair at the table.

"You again", I said, "Who are you? And where am I?"

"I am Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere, and I will not have my familiar speak to me in such a callous manner!" said the girl... Louise, with a heated glare. I got up from the bed, and began moving towards the table.

"Familiar?" I asked, "What makes you think I'll just accept becoming someone's familiar like this? How long does it last?" I narrowed my eyes at Louise as I arrived at the table. Louise narrowed her eyes in return, and spoke as I began digging through my sling-pack.

"The familiar contract is set to last an entire life time," stated Louise matter-of-factly, continuing her glare through narrowed eyes. I just sighed and ignored that she hadn't really answered all of my questions. I continued digging through my pack until I found my phone, and switched on the screen to take a look at the time.

'_This says it's only six in the morning... but it looks like mid-afternoon out the window,' _I thought to myself. '_I have so many questions, and not a whole lot of inclination to throw that at this... Louise girl.' _I sighed again, before asking, "Do I at least get my own place to sleep?"

"You can go to the stable and grab a pile of hay," said Louise, returning to her book. I pulled on my coat and pack, and left the room with out another word. I took note of the number on the door, remembering it for later, and made my way down the hallway.

**[Scene Break]**

After nearly ten minutes of hallways and staircases, I arrived at the base of the tower, only to realize that I hadn't asked Louise where the stables were located. I sighed as I looked out the window, across the courtyard that was apparently right next to the tower dorms. As I exited the hall, I noticed another small girl, this one with shoulder length, light blue hair and red rimmed glasses. I must admit that was actually very cute. The girl was sitting on a bench some distance away from me. With a whole lot of nothing to lose, I made my way to her.

"Excuse me, do you know where I can find the stables?" I asked politely. The girl looked up for a few seconds, and then looked back at her book. Was she one of those really quiet types?

"Over there," she said softly, pointing to the opposite end of the courtyard. I mentally face-palmed for not seeing earlier.

"Thank you," I said. I took another look at her, before turning away, ready to get this task done with.

"Strange..." said the girl softly. I turned back to her again, only to find her standing, and several feet closer than before. I step back, surprised at her sudden movement. Talk about creepy. How did she manage to close that distance without making a sound?

"Please don't do that..." I laughed nervously, "Anyway, what's strange?" She frowned, ever so slightly. Not only quiet, but also lacking in visible emotion. Maybe she's forcing herself to be introverted?

"Your power," she said. My confusion only grew at that.

"My power?" I questioned, "What do you mean, 'my power'? I don't remember ever having 'power'." I frowned at her, confusion and curiosity both hitting their respective peaks.

"You don't know?" she asked me. My eyes narrowed as confusion was soon replaced by annoyance. Part of me wondered what she was talking about, while another part was beginning to believe she was just toying with me. All I knew was that she was really selling the whole 'lady of few words' act.

"Clearly not," I said with a mildly annoyed voice. "Can you give me a straight answer?" Her response was to turn away.

"Ask Louise," the girl said, looking sideways at me. We held a small staring contest for a few moments. I was finding it increasingly difficult not to be distracted by the way that her eyes reminded me of emeralds.

"What's your name?" I asked her. She looked away from me, opening her book again. What was she reading?

"Tabitha," She said simply. I found myself smiling, despite the annoyance from before.

"I'm Draskir," I said, just as simply. Turning away, I make my way over to the stables.

**[Scene Break]**

"So let's get this straight," I said from atop my hay pile, "This place is an academy to teach _magic _to young students, in a country called _Tristain_. You, one of the students of this academy, were required to summon a familiar, using that _magic. _When you did so, you got... me. And now you expect me to obey your every order without question." I looked at her with a sardonic expression. "Is that how it's supposed to go?"

"That is correct, familiar," said Louise, wearing a mildly arrogant expression. "You will-"

"Draskir," I cut in, "My name is Draskir, and I would greatly appreciate it if you used it, _Louise._" I glared at her through narrowed eyes. I definitely wasn't going to let her condescend to me.

"_Excuse _me?" Louise shot up, as if to attempt towering above me. It was about as intimidating as you can imagine. Which is to say, not at all. "You are my familiar! I am your _Master, _and you will address me as such!" I sighed, and stood up.

"I refuse," I said. Louise's eyes narrowed. She went for her wand, and pointed it directly at me. That can't be good... instinct propelled me to sidestep _very _quickly. It was a good thing too, because right after I did, an explosive force knocked me onto the bed, no damage taken.

"You _will _obey me, or face the penalty!" Louise shouted, her anger visibly rising.

"Again, I refuse!" I shout back, rolling off the bed to avoid another explosion. Luckily, my roll put me directly under her wand, so my left hand shot up and grabbed her wand, ripping it away from her. I then shot into a standing position myself, and my right palm found it's way to her just below her throat. I then pushed her backwards, with great force, and pinned her to the wall.

"I don't give a flying _fuck _who you think you are," I hissed at her, staring angrily directly into her now very afraid eyes, "but it does _not _give you the right to blow me up, just for refusing your orders. Quite frankly, the _only _reason I haven't left is because I have no way to get home. If you want me to respect you as my _master, _then you had damn well better show me the _exact _same respect. _Do you understand me_?"

Louise simply nodded furiously, visibly fearing her current position. I sighed and gently let go of her, handing her wand back to her. I could almost feel the fear and nervousness radiating off of her.

"I think we should discuss the details of this... partnership,"I mumbled at Louise, earning only a small nod in response. We seated ourselves at the table, both waiting for the other to speak.

"So... how is this going to play out?" I questioned Louise. She stayed silent, her eyes downcast, as if contemplating a response. This isn't going anywhere. Maybe another question to get her going? "How does the master familiar relationship usually work out?" Louise looks up uncertainly.

"Usually, the familiar is a creature that will protect the master, or gather reagents, that sort of thing," Louise stated slowly. I wasn't liking where this was going.

"But that's because the familiar itself is generally an animal, right?" I asked, raising one eyebrow, "It's different with me, because I'm a human being who is capable of making decisions, regardless of whether or not I'm a familiar."

"A familiar is just an animal though," Louise argued, "and you should be no different from a dog."

"I think I just proved exactly why that's wrong though, "I stated gently, "Apart from certain breeds, most dogs will cower in fear when attacked by their master. However, I was more than willing to fight back. My mind and my body mark me as a human being, and if you want me to accept my role as your familiar, then you should be prepared to treat me as such. You must use _logic _if you are to determine what the proper course of action is."

Louise stayed silent at this.

"I'm not going to accept becoming a servant," I said, "But I will stay if you agree to accept me as a partner instead." Louise looked at me in surprise, shocked at my willingness to stay despite her attempt at blowing me to pieces.

"You mean you'll really stay?" She whispered. I nodded, smiling slightly. She really looked like an innocent child. I was unsure about everything that had happened, but it seemed like here, I'd be able to start figuring things out. Speaking of which...

"Off topic..." I started, steeling myself for any possible outbursts, "Why were the others calling you a zero?"

Uncertainty gave way to annoyance, and Louise shot me a _very _angry look. Must have been a sore spot. I immediately threw up an apologetic look, which seemed to mollify the pinkette, if only just.

"It's because I've never been able to cast a spell properly in my life!" Louise snapped at me angrily. Ouch... no wonder she was disappointed in getting me for a familiar. "That Zerbst decided that since my success rate is zero percent, then I should just be 'The Zero'!" Her shoulders drooped considerably, and she settled back into a state of melancholy. Damn... zero success rate? I was never really good at a whole lot, but I had my talents.

"They just keep saying that I should give up..." mumbled Louise, "But I want to be a good mage. I want to become strong enough to serve the princess... I want to be the strongest!" I regarded her for a few moments, before smirking. It kind of reminded me of a certain prince that wanted the strength to become the ruler of his nation.

"Well, I do like how ambitious you are," I said, earning a questioning look from Louise. I returned her gaze with my own serious look. "You have a dream. Don't ever give up on it. Keep it in your sights and work hard every day, and you'll make it there some day." I smiled at her reassuringly. Louise's eyes widened dramatically. Had she never received praise before?

"T-that's right!" she said suddenly. "It's not like I need you to tell me that!" Her words were so obviously forced that I had to let out a laugh.

"That's the spirit," I told her. "I'm gonna go out for a bit. Just remembered I don't know where my bike is..."

"Bike?" Louise questioned. "What's that?" I barely resisted the urge to face palm. I had forgotten that this 'Tristain' was probably in the equivalent of Chivalric times. They probably didn't have bicycles back then.

"A bike, or bicycle," I began, raising one finger, "is an item used for transportation. It uses gears and a chain to propel itself forward when the rider applies pressure to the pedals." I could almost see the question marks appearing over her head. "It's that thing that I had with me at the summoning, remember?" Louise pondered that for a moment, and then it clicked, and she nodded. "I'll show you how it works at some point, but first I have to find the bloody thing. It looks pretty late now, so you should get some sleep. G'night."

"Good night..." I heard Louise say as left the room, closing the door behind me. Looked like we were making some progress! I was definitely happy to be on good terms with my 'master' now, if only because it would help make my start here a moderately peaceful one.

**[Scene Break]**

Why did these bloody hallways have to be so long? I could swear that I had been walking for ages, but my phone said it's only been five minutes. Speaking of which, my phone was acting slightly odd. It was nearly dead when I got off work, but after I left Louise's room the second time, the battery was reading a full charge. Maybe it was reacting to the magical energy in the air? I could make as many guesses as I liked, but I would never have found an answer.

My musings were interrupted as I rounded a corner, and two people came into view. One of them was a short girl, with brown hair. The other was a moderately taller boy, with a mop of blonde hair.

"I'd love to try your souffle, Katie," said the blonde.

"Oh, lord Guiche, do you really mean that?" asked the girl... Katie. I got the feeling that maybe she admired the blonde, Guiche, rather than actually having romantic feelings.

"Of course, Katie, for I could never tell lies in front of your eyes," crooned Guiche. Katie's eyes were like plates, they were so wide. I however, was barely able to resist laughing out loud as I passed them by. I managed to keep a straight face, looking ahead, but alas, the blonde fop noticed me anyway.

"You there!" Guiche called out to me. I turned to face him, one eyebrow raised. "Aren't you the Zero's familiar?"

"Correct," I said, taking a page from Tabitha's book. Guiche seemed like a skirt chaser to me, not the kind of guy I liked to get involved with. His eyes narrowed at my pointed response.

"You should learn to have respect for your betters," growled Guiche. "Tell me, how much is the Zero paying you for this act?" I tried to repress a smirk, but failed horribly.

"She isn't," I stated bemusedly. "Besides, those who want respect, give respect." I dropped the statement on Guiche's head as if it were a rock, and his reaction was much the same as if it had actually been a rock. He stood there, stunned for a moment, before his eyes narrowed in anger. I'd had enough though, so I turned and continued on my way, leaving the couple behind me.

**[Scene Break]**

There were two moons in the sky. _Two moons. __Two of them_. I should have guessed by then, and even without the two moons in the sky, it was glaringly obvious that I wasn't on Earth anymore. I made my way over to the bench that Tabitha had been sitting on earlier, and took a seat myself.

The first clue that had tipped me off was the oddly colored hair. People on Earth just _don't _have pink or blue hair, not without dyes. Even then, dyed hair still didn't look entirely natural to me, but Louise's hair looked completely natural. That brought me to the second tip off; Louise had pink eyes. In a land that was _obviously _behind in the technology department, it was just as obvious that contact lenses hadn't been invented. Therefore, Louise's eyes were naturally pink.

The third tip off was the round up of familiars at the summoning. Between miss red head's lizard, and Tabitha's dragon, I had seen more than enough even at that moment to know that I wasn't on Earth anymore.

It was pretty cool to see a live dragon though; I had played enough Skyrim that the sight of dragons was commonplace in my memory, so that kinda mollified the excitement. It was still cool regardless.

I was shaken out of my musings a second time, as I noticed a figure approaching from my right. Upon closer inspection, the newcomer is revealed to be a young maid who looked somewhat... oriental. I wasn't up to scratch on the physical differences of the various races of the Asian people, but this girl was obviously part Asian at least.

"E-excuse me, but... are you a new servant here?" asked the young girl. She was obviously nervous, about what, I didn't know. I tried to help calm her nerves offering a small smile.

"I'm afraid not," I answered, "I'm actually one of the summoned familiars." The maid's eyes widened at that, dropping all pretense of nervousness, and switching completely to curiosity.

"You're the man that Miss Valliere summoned?" she asked. I nodded lightly, smiling all the while. "Ah! I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Siesta." The young maid bowed slightly. I chuckled at this, and stood up from my seat.

"My name is Draskir," I introduce myself, bowing in return. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Siesta." Siesta smiled nervously, fiddling with the frills of her uniform. Silence reigned as I took Siesta's appearance in. She was just barely taller than Louise, and her black hair was cut neatly about an inch up from her shoulders.

"Was there a particular reason you spoke to me?" I asked her gently.

"Oh! Well, um, I was hoping that you were a worker, because I might..." Siesta trailed off nervously.

"Need some help?" I supplied for her bemusedly. The maid nodded furiously and I smiled again. "Well, I have some time, so lead the way." Siesta looked up quickly, and was unable to contain an apparent satisfaction with my statement.

As she led me away, to help with who knows what, I looked up at the moons. I guess that the more things change, the more they stay the same, huh? That's great, because I really need more things to clean. That was sarcasm, if you couldn't tell.

I didn't get back to Louise's room for what felt like ages. Siesta had dragged me all over the place taking care of various menial tasks, and it took a lot out of me. Louise was fast asleep, so I moved as quietly as I could. Using my jacket as a blanket, I laid down on my pile of hay. It surprised me just how comfortable it actually was, but I didn't entertain that thought for long. I closed my eyes, pondering the strange turn of events, and wondered what the future might hold. Unconsciously, I found myself hoping it would include more of that Tabitha girl.

**[Chapter 1: End]**

* * *

><p><strong>Post Note:<strong>

Well, that's done and over with. I get the feeling that I might have been a little off with some of the responses that the characters made. If you guys have any opinions or tips, let me know! I've got the entire length of the story planned, so I only have to write out the actual scenes. Let me know how I'm doing, because I want to bring you guys the highest quality content that I can.


	2. Chapter 2 - In a New World - Part 2

_**Authors Note:**_

I started writing the outline for the second chapter the day after I posted the finished first chapter. The outline took two days of work; but in that time, the first chapter received over one hundred views, along with a few favorites/follows. There was one review for the chapter, so from here on, whenever I get a review on the story, I'll respond to it if it's a question, or a comment that I feel is worth a response.

Aton455: That's basically the reason that this story even happened in the first place; Tabitha is my favorite character personally, and I feel like she was kinda let down by the end of the original series.

I feel like it's worth noting that my writing style was changed up a bit while I was writing the first chapter; At first, I tried to go for a more traditional novel style, but in the end it was a bit too stiff. I started experimenting with a more casual style, but again, this is still my first story, so I'm yet the novice. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

I will also warn you now, there are going to be elements/powers that shouldn't be here, but I can vouch that they are completely legitimate, and have a perfectly logical explanation for making their appearance.

But more on that later, let's start the story!

* * *

><p><em><strong>Annt! <strong>__**Annt! **__**Annt! **__**Annt! **__**Annt! An-**_

I quickly rolled off of my hay pile, stumbling over to the other side of the room to turn off the hell spawn noise. After a quick dismissal, I looked around. Where was I again?

"What the _hell _was that!?" shouted a feminine voice to my left. Looking over quickly, it became apparent that a very freaked out Louise had rolled out of her bed when my alarm clock went off.

"Just my alarm clock, don't worry," I said to her, as my memories of the previous day came flooding back. Right. Magic, a medieval world, the works. I sighed, shaking off my drowsiness, and turned to leave the room.

"I imagine you'll be wanting to get dressed," I said, shrugging on my coat and pack, "so I'll just wait out here." I leave the room without waiting for a response. As I was working with Siesta last night, I had managed to get a basic scope on the flow of time. As it was, it seemed like it was the same as back on Earth, so I had adjusted the clock. Looks like it was a good idea; the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon now.

It only took a minute for Louise to open the door and step out. I fell into line beside her, and we began making our way down the hall. We didn't make it very far, because that red head from yesterday was suddenly standing in our way. She must have been rather pleased with herself, with that smirk that was plastered on her face.

"Well good morning, little Zero," she drawled. My eyes narrowed instantly at this. That's right, she was one of the twits that was making fun of Louise. Typical; for all of her physical beauty, she was just another one of the arrogant snots that had to lord it over anyone she felt was beneath her. Stereotypes do exist for a reason, I suppose.

Louise just grunted in response, her eyes also narrowed. The red head then turned her attention to me, still smirking.

"So, you're the commoner that was 'summoned' by Louise," she said. I maintained a small glare, leveled in her direction.

"Indeed," I answered simply. "What of it?" Red head's eyes narrowed, if only slightly. I almost missed it; I probably would have missed it if I hadn't been glaring at her.

"How much is she paying you for this charade?" she questioned. That was the second time I'd been asked that question. I suppose that if Louise had never been able to cast a single spell in her life, they'd wonder if the summoning was legitimate. I would think they'd remember the part where I had runes branded on to my left arm.

"Y-you saw what happened yesterday, Kirche!" shouted Louise. So that's her name. "You know full well that my spell worked!" Kirche's smirk grew marginally, and she giggled, as if the statement was some sort of joke.

"I had assumed that was just the professor trying to help you out a little," laughed Kirche, "you know, so you didn't embarrass yourself with another _failure." _Okay, that's enough. Louise looked like she was about to start crying; frankly, I don't blame her. I stepped between her and Kirche.

"That's enough," I said sharply. "Have you really got nothing better to do? You really have to try and undermine her first real success?"

"But she's-," Kirche started, but I wasn't having any of it.

"No buts!" I all but shouted. "You all have been tormenting her for likely as long as she's been here. Doubt her if you like, but you have no reason to throw it in her face. Why can't you just let her have a bit of confidence in herself?"

I continued glaring intensely at Kirche. Apparently, from the look of shock on her face, no one had ever told her 'no' before; first time for everything, right? I wasn't just going to sit back and let anyone hurt Louise anymore.

"Now, if there's nothing else," I growled at Kirche, "It's time for us to move on. Shall we?" I directed the last part at Louise in a more gentle tone. Taking her hand, I led her away from the stunned Kirche.

After a few minutes of hallways and stairs, we stopped, slightly out of breath from our fast pace.

"Thank you..." Louise almost whispered. I'm fairly certain that was the first time anyone ever really stood up for her; how fucked up is that? I'd had points in my life where I was bullied before, but I always had at least one friend who was there for me. Near as I can tell, Louise hadn't had anyone, like _ever. _I let go of her hand and let it rest on her shoulder, looking her in the eye.

"I'm not gonna let anyone look down on you anymore," I told her seriously. "Regardless of whatever your streak was before, you summoned me. I know I'm not exactly the greatest thing you could have ever gotten, but the important thing to remember is that you summoned something, even as disappointing as me. But that's not something that _any _failure could ever manage. You're not a zero anymore, Louise." Louise just smiled at that, in that cute, innocent smile. It really made her look like a child.

**[Scene Break]**

As we were about to arrive at the dining hall, Louise stopped us, looking rather uncertain.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. Louise hesitated for a brief moment before speaking.

"Well, it's just..." she started, "I'm _very _sorry, but since you're not a noble, then it's against the rules for you to eat in the dining hall..." She trailed off, looking away meekly.

Well, shit. If I'm not allowed in the dining hall, then I probably can't eat. No food equals starving, and that's a bit bad.

"Hmm..." I pondered for a moment "I can respect the rules as they are. I've never been one to go against rules, but I do need to eat at some point." My stomach chose that moment to audibly growl at me. "Soon, preferably; it's been well over a full day since the last time I ate." Louise and I both humphed at that.

"I can help!" chirped a happy voice behind us. We turned to see Siesta standing there, looking rather chipper. "It's the least that I can do after all your hard work last night!" The sight of Louise narrowing her eyes at the maid completely escaped my notice.

"You'd do that? I asked Siesta incredulously. "Wait, how would you be able to help?" I didn't want to do more unnecessary bullshit; I was freaking hungry, and would likely be more counterproductive than anything else.

"I just have to take you to the kitchens," Siesta said, smiling. This apparently annoyed Louise for some reason.

"Fine!" she nearly shouted. "Do whatever you want!" Siesta and I looked at her, dumbfounded, as she stalked off into the dining hall.

"What's up with her?" I asked no one in particular. Siesta just shook her head in response, before attempting to drag me off to the kitchens. I just let her pull me off; I was still focusing on what Louise's random attitude reversal might mean. Either way, Siesta and I headed off to the kitchen; I hoped that didn't put me at the center of attention.

**[Scene Break]**

_Everyone _was staring at me. Siesta and I had arrived at the kitchens, and the one thing I _didn't _want to happen, _actually happened. _I always hated being the center of attention, and made a point to try and avoid it. I laughed nervously, trying to ignore the group of people all staring at me. Instead, I focused on the large man who appeared to be the head chef, Marteau. He was a bit of a burly guy, just a bit taller than me.

"So, yer that Dras- somethin' or other," Marteau said to me. "Siesta has had some good things to say about you, so I guess that means yer an okay guy!" He chuckled at me. I could tell that he was a nice guy; it practically radiated from him.

"It's Draskir," I corrected him, chuckling nervously.

"Right, that's the name," Marteau said, chuckling again. He then switched over to a more serious look. "I gotta ask you somethin' real quick. D'you mind?" A quick look at Siesta revealed an apprehensive look, as if she was afraid of both his question, and my response. I gulped minutely, attempting to swallow the nervousness, and then nodded.

"What's yer opinion of nobility?"

I just stared at him for a moment. Was this guy serious? Somehow, I got the feeling that my response to this would determine the future of our aquaintancy. I contemplated my response, considering that I hadn't had a lot of experience personally dealing with nobility. With that kind of question, it was easy to assume that he had plenty of experience with them, probably not all that good.

"I've never really dealt with nobles before," I began honestly, "but near as I can tell, there aren't a whole lot of them that actually deserve to be called noble. To be 'noble' is to have high morals and good virtue, but I haven't seen anything of the sort here. They look down on people, and lord their power over the 'lesser beings' that they feel are beneath them. The issue, I feel, is that they just don't know better. If they can be taught, if they can learn that their behavior is wrong, then maybe they have a chance at becoming better. Maybe then, they'd have a chance at actually deserving the title of noble. Or maybe I'm just naive, and just expect too much from people."

I looked away, somewhat distantly. Marteau gave me a surprised look, as if he wasn't expecting that kind of response; I'll be honest, I had always hoped that people could become better if they were shown just how stupid their behavior actually was; whether they were noble or not, doesn't make a difference in my eyes.

"Y'got a good heart, kid," said Marteau, laughing heartily, clapping me on the back. I nearly fell forward at that, and Siesta just laughed. "Y'hungry? We got plenty o' left overs, so feel free to dig in!" The thought of food made my mouth water, and my stomach growled out it's agreement. I grinned, ready to finally get some food.

**[Scene Break] **

After the rather generous meal, I had agreed to help Siesta pass out tea and cakes to some of the students. It was a good way to pass the time, and I felt like hammering home the fact despite my likely naive outlook on the nobles, I was still someone that even the little people could come to for help. Siesta and I chatted about mundane things as we set about our task. Nearly an hour passed before anything noteworthy happened; we were approached by that girl from last night, Katie.

"Excuse me, but have you seen lord Guiche?" She asked me, meekly. I arched an eyebrow at that; for what purpose would she think that I would know?

"I don't know," I told her flatly. "I'm not sure why you think I would." Katie pouted at my response.

"If you see him, could you let me know?" requested Katie. "He's supposed to try my souffle..." I sighed and nodded, looking around. That blonde fop, Guiche, really struck me as a womanizing skirt chaser. Honestly, I had no idea why I was willing to help this girl out; she'd probably get her heart broken if she stuck with Guiche. Noble or not, I don't like seeing that happen.

I spotted Guiche rather quickly, and noticed that he wasn't alone; he was in the company of that blonde girl from the summoning yesterday. Montmer-something-or-other, I think. I pointed this out to Katie.

"He's over there," I said to Katie, pointing towards Guiche's general location. "It doesn't look like he's alone though." Katie looked to where I was pointing, and became visibly distraught.

"Oh, what could this mean?" she wailed. "Am I not good enough for him anymore!?" I sighed again, and decided against my better judgement to get involved. I motioned for Katie to follow me; I wanted her to be close enough to hear the conversation, but far enough away that she wouldn't be noticed by Guiche.

Guiche instantly recognized me as I approached the table.

"Well, if it isn't the rude commoner from before," drawled Guiche in a tone that mixed amusement and annoyance. Once again going against my better judgement, I decided on a more flippant response that mimicked his initial statement.

"And you, the uppity fop from before," I muttered, matching his tone. Guiche's face muscles began twitching slightly. Did I strike a nerve? I decided against taunting him further; I was here, after all, to get answers for Katie. I shifted my focus away from Guiche, and onto his blonde companion. "And who's this? Friend of yours?" Before Guiche can respond, the girl beats him to it.

"I'm his girlfriend," she states hotly. Katie visibly flinched behind them, and I sighed deeply. Here goes nothing; I started this little venture, I may as well try and direct Guiche into his waiting retribution.

"I see," I said softly, turning my gaze back at Guiche. "I suppose then, that Miss Katie's souffle wasn't all that tasteful?" I could probably have picked a better line than that, but it was good enough to get the blonde's attention.

"What is he talking about?" she questioned, leaning intently towards Guiche.

"Nothing b-but nonsense, I'm sure," stammered Guiche, who threw me a dirty look. "After all, my dear Montmeroncy, I could-"

"Never lie in front of your eyes?" I interrupted, earning another dirty look from Guiche, and a look of a alarm from the blonde, Montmeroncy. "A rather cheesy line if you ask me, and it gets worn down from excessive use; maybe it would have worked if you hadn't used it on Miss Katie last night."

Montmeroncy rose slowly, a look of anger slowly spreading across her face.

"I'd love to hear more details about this... encounter... from last night," Montmeroncy ground out, turning to face me. I smiled, and motioned for Katie to move closer.

"Why don't we ask Miss Katie herself?" I asked, causing Guiche to turn a pale white. "After all, she's been listening to this conversation since it started; I'm sure she'd love to get a few words in." Katie arrived, looking rather hurt. Upon seeing her, Montmeroncy's eye's flared, her rage pouring out, no longer in check. I turned and walked away, not wanting to be involved further. I had opened the flood gates, and now it was time for Guiche to face the consequences of his idiocy. Better to leave it in the hands of those he had wronged.

I nearly ran straight into my little partner, Louise. "Just what have you been up to?" she grilled, her voice slightly shaking, as if she was anxious. I decided to simply fill her in on what had happened; withholding anything might have been detrimental to our ability to react to the situation if necessary.

"Not a whole lot," I answered seriously. "Simply exposing a cheating skirt-chaser for what he is." I shrugged off her petulant glare, before turning back to the scene unfolding for the two-timer. Just as I turned to observe, Montmeroncy slapped Guiche across the face, and stormed off. Katie wailed something that I couldn't catch, and also ran off. Guiche simply stared, dumbfounded, before coming to his senses. He turned towards me, his anger _very _apparent as he began to walk towards me.

"_You!" _Guiche shouted angrily.

"Me," I responded sarcastically. Guiche's eyes twitched at my attempt at sarcasm.

"You dare to make two innocent girls cry!" He cried. Oh boy, just what I wanted! Another prig trying to blame his problems on me.

"Your arrogance already did that," I stated calmly. "All I did was show them your deception." Guiche's eyes flared at that.

"You further dare to step upon my pride!" shouted Guiche petulantly. "There is only one course of action; I challenge you to a duel!"

"Denied," I dropped flatly, causing Guiche to step back, shocked.

"Coward!" growled Guiche. "Have you no honor? You must-"

"Only I can decide what I must do. I have nothing to prove by fighting you. The events that have taken place here were caused by your actions; why not man up and accept the consequences? That would be _far _more honorable than fighting me out of petty anger." Guiche simply stared, his angered shock lingering, unchanging, as he stared at me. His face practically screamed 'are you for real?' as I glared at him.

I turned and began walking away; all I wanted was to be gone from here. As I stalked off, I heard Guiche begin shouting in a strange language. The approaching danger was the only thing that kept me from face palming in that moment. I turned just as Guiche released the spell, creating a rock the size of my fist, and launching it at me. Just as I was about to dodge the attack, _Louise jumped in and took the hit._

She began falling over, and I caught her. I lowered Louise gently to the ground as her blood began pouring from the fresh wound on her forehead. I looked down at her, distraught, as Guiche looked on from my right, contemplating the turn of events.

"What the fuck were you thinking!?" I practically screeched at her. Louise just looked up at me, smiling.

"As the one who s-summoned you, it's my job to protect you..." whispered Louise softly.

"Are you a moron!?" I asked her angrily. "If anything, _I _should be the one protecting _you! I_ got myself into this mess! _I_ should be the one taking the hits for it, not _you!"_

_"_It seems that the Zero stepped in for you..." stated Guiche flippantly. I flinched at that, my eyes becoming dark as Guiche continued. "It's just as much as she deserves."

I lowered Louise the rest of the way down to the ground, gently laying her down. As she looked at me curiously, I rose slowly to my feet, turning toward Guiche.

"You know..." I started darkly, my runes beginning to emanate a bright energy, "there are some lines that should really be left alone."

I moved, faster than I knew I could. Guiche had no time to react to the movement; my fist was already in his stomach, causing him to double over in pain. I reared back, and gave him an uppercut that sent him staggering back a few feet, before dropping to one knee. Guiche gets out an incantation as I rush him again, and as he points his rose at me, I'm sent back by a blast of wind, forcing me onto my back. Taking advantage of the momentum, I propel myself further backwards, rolling onto my feet. Was he seriously using a rose for a wand?

"To think you would lay your hands on a noble... your arrogance knows no bounds! As punishment, you shall face my bronze Valkyrie!"

With a wave of his rose wand, Guiche summoned a rather feminine looking golem wield an axe. A golemancer, huh? Could be tough to beat, but at least his golems dropped weapons that I could use to my own advantage... provided the fop wasn't able to simply magic the weapons away. The golem raised it's axe and rushed me, attempting to bring the axe down on my skull. I sidestepped, taking a hold of the golem's arm, and kicking one of it's legs out to roll it forward. It dropped the axe, and I caught it before it hit the ground. Bringing the axe down, I split the golem's head open.

Guiche made a 'tch' sound, and summoned two more golems. They each moved different directions around me. That could be bad... the first one, wielding a sword moved to my left. I moved to parry the sword. As soon as I did, the second golem brought it's weapon, a mace, into my back. I grunted in pain, and the two golems began hailing a storm of blows on me.

God... just what did I get myself into? Was I going to die here? I was force back, step by step, taking a hail of cuts and bruises, attempting to block as much as I could with this shitty axe. I hit the wall, and fell down on my ass, barely able to watch as the golems closed in for the finishing blow.

Guess this is what I get for getting involved with matters that don't concern me, huh? Too bad... I had really hoped I'd be able to help Louise become stronger... that I'd be able to sit down and chat with Tabitha some more... but it looks like this is the end. I struggled to move, to try and dodge, but my body wouldn't react to my orders.

I wished that I had something, _anything, _that could help me win this fight, to make it out alive.

The sword golem closed in, directing it's sword to stab at my chest.

Suddenly, something deep inside me, in the wellspring of my core, began rushing out. My vision returned, and the pain faded. Somehow, I found the energy to push myself away from the wall, and send my palms out to meet the golem, planting into it's chest area. A bright light accompanied the move, and the golem flew back, torn completely apart at what I assume was the waistline.

I dropped to my hands and knees, my mind racing to try and process the spectacle that I had just given off.

That was _alchemy._ Like, from _Fullmetal Alchemist. _How the hell did I just use alchemy of all things? It's not even supposed to be real! A make believe science that acted as a plot point in a story! How am I able to use it!?

I looked up at Guiche, who appeared just as dumbfounded as I did. Shaking off my confusion, I decided on a small trial to test my new found alchemical power. I had just discovered that I could de-construct, but could I re-construct? I pressed my palms together, shaping the image of a sword's hilt in my mind, and shoved my palms into one of the broken pieces of golem at my feet. Another light shone from the alchemical reaction, and the hilt that I imagined was formed from a part of the golem.

With a grin that was almost feral, I pressed my palms together again, and grabbed a hold of the hilt. Raising it into the air, the rest of the fractured piece of golem reshaped into the blade that I saw in my mind; the great sword wielded by Knight Artorias, the Abyss-walker from the Dark Souls series. Or rather, a replica. I had changed the bronze to steel, but I knew that for all it's visual charm, it wasn't the real thing, just a steel copy.

I hefted my new weapon onto my shoulder, and gave a serious gaze in Guiche's direction. Coming to his senses, though still coming off as rather confused, he opened his mouth to speak again.

"What kind of power is that!?" roared Guiche confusedly. "It can't be magic... you don't have a wand or a staff, so how were you able to do those things!?" He immediately followed the statement up by creating three more golems to fight for him. I was really getting tired of fighting these 'Valkyries' or whatever. Or maybe I was just tired of fighting, period.

"I'm not about to tell you!" I shouted, throwing the question aside as Guiche's golems charged. I arced my blade three times in retaliation.

The first arc took one golem apart at the waist, sending it rolling off to the side.

Changing the course of the blade slightly, I took advantage of the momentum, spinning to add force and bringing the blade arcing upwards, sending the second golem flying through the air.

Stilling my blade as it pointed directly upwards, I switched to a back hand style, stabbing the blade downward, pinning the final golem to the ground. I pulled the the sword up a few inches, and plunged it straight back into the golem again to lock the golem into place. I spun again, pulling the blade with me, and letting it rest on my shoulder, the golem dangling from the middle of the blade. It was a move that I took directly from the intro scene where Artorias himself was first seen, so I felt that it was fitting; and I felt bad ass being able to pull it off as easily as I did.

I scowled fiercely at Guiche, who subconsciously took a step backwards.

"Listen well, and remember," I said, both softly and fiercely at the same time. "Don't _ever _hurt my friends!" At the conclusion of the statement, I launched the golem from Artorias' greatsword, flying directly at my foe. Guiche was barely able to erect a barrier, the golem smashing into it while simultaneously shattering into several pieces.

I preserved the momentum from the swing that launched the golem, using it to propel myself forward. Dancing around the barrier, I took one swipe at Guiche. I barely missed, but I did manage to cut straight through his ridiculous rose wand. Guiche fell on his ass, and cowered in fear at the end that he thought was coming; but I wasn't going to kill him. Oh no, I had something else in mind.

"I yield!" whimpered Guiche. I ignored him, grabbing his collar and pulling him to his feet. Switching the great sword to a back hand style, I slammed the pommel into his stomach, knocking his breath out. Switching back to fore hand, I brought the pommel into the bridge of his nose. Guiche grunted in pain, as both nostrils began a flow of blood. I looked at him, my fiercely angry eyes boring into his fearful ones.

"Shut up, you damn idiot!" I roared. "You don't have the _right _to cower like this! You brought it all on yourself! It was _your _decision to cheat on those girls, and it was _your _decision to blame me! _Your _actions led to this! Using your precios _pride _as an excuse, you tried to beat me down out of anger! But then you suddenly find yourself on the losing side, and try and yield to me, the lower class that you so despise! It's _pathetic!_

But that's all meaningless... You're little girl problems are _nothing _compared to what _she's _given! Look at Louise! Compare your problems to hers, and you _tell _me that your life is worse! You all shunned her for not being good at magic! You cast her down, bullied her, stepped all over her pride, for no real reason! When she needed all of you to help her, you abandoned her!

Fools... if you truly believe this to be acceptable behavior, then you _don't _deserve to call yourselves nobility!"

Silence reigned over the courtyard. Guiche stared at me, dumbfounded. His fear was gone, replaced by utter shock. I let go of his collar, letting my hand fall to my side. A quick look around told me that everyone in the courtyard, students, workers and teachers alike, all shared the dumb confusion as Guiche. I scanned the crowd, looking over the faces that were in attendance. After a moment, I found Tabitha, staff in one hand, book open in the other, though she wasn't reading.

Tabitha's emerald eyes peered into mine in a questioning gaze. I simply smiled at her briefly, before turning back to Louise, who was now on her feet again. There was a teacher with her, presumably to heal Louise's wounded forehead. I sauntered over to her, dragging my feet out of fatigue.

"How's your head?" I asked her wearily. Louise just grunted at me, apparently unable to find words. I smiled briefly, genuinely glad to see that she was fine; and with that, my fatigue fully caught up with me.

I staggered for a moment, dropping the great sword that I had been dragging behind me. A moment later, the ground decided to jump up at me, and I blacked out.

* * *

><p><strong>Post note:<strong>

Well, that was fun. I'll reiterate, there's a completely legitimate reason that Draskir is able to use alchemy. Powers and abilities from other anime will likely make their way into Draskir's ability list as well, but the reason that they do will be explained later on.

Act one will close with the next chapter, and we'll move into the second act, hopefully with relative ease.


	3. Chapter 3 - In a New World - Part 3

**Author's Note:**

Some more reviews, let's respond!

Firem78910: The very nature of Draskir's soul and source of power might seem a bit god like at times, but over-using his powers will put an incredible strain on Draskir himself, forcing him to try and be smart in each situation.

Aton455: Draskir isn't going to have Myoz's runes; it's something else that I came up with that would change a few things later. I'd go more into it now, but I don't want to spoil anything.

Dead Pann: I went back and fixed the "Wast" which was supposed to be "East". Also, I looked it up on the FoZ wiki, and Sylphid is referred to as a "Rhyme Dragon". I'm not sure if this is an error on the part of the creator of the anime, but that's what they've got down on the official site, so that's what I'm going with. Finally, don't worry; plenty more Tabitha in the future.

ChaosxPaladin: Thank you; I'm definitely going to remember that.

On a side note, no matter how many times I see a picture of Guiche, I still picture Sunohara from Clannad when I read about Guiche in fanfiction. Is that weird?

* * *

><p>I groaned heavily. My eyes eyes opened slowly, and I looked around. I was back in Louise's room... How long had I been out? And how had I gone out to begin with? I strained to remember. After giving it thought, my memories of Guiche, our fight, and everything I said all came flooding back. Geez... I had really said that? I sat up with some strain, and found Louise sitting at her desk, eyeing me with apparent worry.<p>

"Are you alright?" she asked, getting up and walking over.

"I'm not entirely sure..." I muttered slowly. I tried standing, to some degree of success. I stumbled slightly, but regained my balance fairly quickly. "How long was I asleep?"

"Three days," answered Louise tentatively. "Classes are already done for today, and dinner will be ready soon. You might want to go down to the kitchens and eat."

"Food sounds wonderful right now," I mumbled. I pulled on my coat, leaving my pack in it's place next to my hay pile. "How have the other students been since the fight?"

"They just leave me alone," answered Louise. "Guiche keeps to himself, mostly. He's pretty normal during class, but he just sits alone otherwise; I think he said something about having a lot to think about."

Hmm. Was the fop actually thinking about what I said? Maybe he was actually learning his lesson; I was snapped out of my thoughts as Louise spoke again.

"Tomorrow is the Day of Void, so we're going to go into town," she stated. Wonderful; going into town probably meant long horse rides. I had never rode a horse before, so I was likely to start chafing to all hell. Also, 'Day of Void'? Was that some kind of holiday?

As we entered the courtyard, I noticed Siesta sitting on a bench near the dining hall. I called out to her; upon noticing us, her eyes lit up and she dashed over, latching on to me.

"You're awake!" Siesta half-shouted, her voice muffled by her face being buried in my chest. I chuckled nervously, hugging her lightly.

"I'm fine, Siesta," I murmured softly. The maid detached herself from me after a moment, and Louise moved on wordlessly into the dining hall. That was the second time that she'd done that; just left me behind without a word. I couldn't tell if it was me, or Siesta, or both. Either way, it'd still be nice if she at least said something. Siesta dragged me out of my thoughts by dragging me off to the kitchens.

**[Scene Break]**

I'd never understand how these people got to be so good at cooking. Every single bite was like a dollop of heaven in my mouth. Siesta had prepared a container for some extra food, and since it was the dinner meal, any leftovers would have to be thrown out; I'd gladly accepted the extra food.

I was on my way through the courtyard again when I noticed a slight movement on my left. Glancing over as casually as I could, I spotted a blue dragon, eyeing me intently.

"Is there something with which I can assist you?" I asked, perplexed. What could a dragon want with me? The beast just kept staring. Casually, I brought another bite of my chicken leg up, and teared off a piece in my mouth. At that moment, the dragon's eyes widened briefly, and I could swear that I heard it whine. Ah. It wanted my food.

"Ah, you want my food," I chuckled. The beast's eyes widened at my statement, and it gave me a look of hope as it's eyes darted between my own eyes and my food. I chuckled again, and held out the rest of my chicken. The dragon trilled happily as it's tongue darted out and snagged the remainder of my chicken. The beast laid down, it's head right up against me. I reached out, patting the top of it's head as it continued trilling softly.

A moment later, Tabitha appeared beside me. Having barely heard her approach, I managed to hide my surprise.

"Hey there," I said to her, offering a small smile. Tabitha nodded lightly in return.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"What for?" I asked her, confused.

"Feeding Sylphid," Tabitha answered, just as quietly as before. I guess that means this dragon is Tabitha's familiar.

"Don't mention it," I replied casually. We just stood there for a few moments as I tried to think of something to say. "So, I guess you were right. About my powers." Tabitha just nodded again, as I began musing aloud. "Though I do wonder how I'm able to perform Alchemy..." Tabitha looked over at that.

"Alchemy?" she asked. "Yours is... different." I turned to face Tabitha fully.

"This form of Alchemy isn't related to magic," I started. "It's the process of comprehension, deconstruction and reconstruction. To perform it, you have to understand how the building blocks are arranged. Then, you deconstruct, taking the building blocks apart at the most basic level. Finally, you reconstruct, putting the blocks together into something else. Like how I took Guiche's bronze golem, and changed it into a steel sword." Tabitha nodded in understanding. "Though I don't understand how I'm able to use it. This form of Alchemy isn't even supposed to be _real. _It's part of a story from my world."

"A story?" questioned Tabitha. I could see the gears turning in her head, and she looked almost eager to hear more about it. It was almost cute, even setting aside the part where I had done something that was supposed to be impossible in favor of hearing the story that it came from.

"It's pretty good," I began, smiling as I remembered my favorite moments. "Let me tell you the story of Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist..."

Louise wandered into the courtyard some time later, just as it was getting dark. A quick look at my phone told me that I had been here, talking to Tabitha, for _four hours. _I hadn't realized they did dinner so early. It took me awhile to give a basic version of Fullmetal Alchemist to Tabitha, but from there, the conversation turned to my various other favorite stories from Earth, like Dragon Age, Naruto, Bleach, among others. Tabitha had been particularly interested when I told her about Kingdom Hearts.

As time had passed, Tabitha and I had moved from standing in front of Sylphid, to a more comfortable position leaning against the dragon's side. I had been uncertain at first, but gradually warmed up to the idea after Sylphid prodded at me a bit.

Anyway, when Louise appeared in the courtyard right at dusk, I took it as my queue to get going. I smiled and waved at Tabitha, barely catching her own small smile as I left. Catching up with Louise, she turned and we headed into the tower.

"Why were you talking to Tabitha?" Louise questioned me curiously.

"At first she was thanking me for feeding Sylphid," I started nonchalantly. "Then she was curious about my Alchemy. After that, I was telling her about the story my Alchemy comes from, and it went on from there."

"Alchemy?" Louise asked.

"That power I used to destroy Guiche's golems, and make that sword," I answered. "I know it's not the same as the Alchemy you're used to, but it works on the same basic premise."

Louise seemed to ponder this for a moment.

"Does it use magic?" she asked in a small voice.

"Nope," I answered flatly. "It's a science that follows the natural laws of the world. No magic involved."

"I see," sighed Louise. It's not hard to imagine that she was probably relieved. I know I'd be pissed if I sucked at magic, and then summoned a familiar who could cast better than I could. That'd grate my nerves inside and out.

**[Scene Break]**

It looked like I was _completely _correct in my prediction. After three hours on horseback, my legs were chafing so hardcore that it was difficult to walk. I must have made for a moderately comical sight, attempting a form of crab walk so that my chafe wouldn't act up again.

Louise led us to what appeared to be a town square. I immediately took a seat at a nearby water fountain, dipping my hand into the cold water so I could rub it on my burns. Ah, sweet release. Louise then presented me with what looked like a pouch of some sort.

"Here," she said, looking off to one side. I raised an eyebrow. What could this be about?

"What's this?" I asked, taking the pouch. It was pretty hefty, and had a jingle to it. Almost feels like a coin purse.

"Money," Louise stated flatly. Called it. "I was going to use it to buy a healing potion after your fight with Guiche, but the healers said you wouldn't need it."

"Then why give _me _the money?" I questioned.

"Well..." Louise trailed off. "You seem like you know what you're doing so I just kind of figured..." She trailed off again. I could have phrased that question a bit differently.

"Thank you, Louise," I said, smiling. "I'll try and put it to good use."

If I learned anything from role playing games, the first stop should be a weapons shop. I'd just transmute some with Alchemy, but I didn't want to rely solely on transmutation; there was no telling how it'd effect my body.

"Where can we find a weapon shop?" I asked Louise. She pointed me in the right direction, and we set off.

As we made our way down the street, we heard a crash from our left. Looking over sharply, I saw a citizen run out of an inn, chased by a mustached muscleman who dressed like a woman. I was conflicted over whether the sight was amusing or disturbing. Probably both. I just ushered Louise forward before anything decided to drag us into the scene, but something told me we'd be seeing more of that man down the line.

Finally, we arrived at the weapon shop. Stepping inside, the clerk perked up at the sight of Louise, likely recognizing her as nobility.

"Nobles," he started. "I ain't had no trouble with..."

"I'm here to shop," I cut him off abruptly. "And I'm not actually nobility, just another regular guy." The clerk eyed me warily before presenting a sword on his counter.

"Might I tempt you with a special offer?" he started. Taking a look, I could easily tell that the blade was made of gold, an instant reject in my eyes.

"Denied," I told him flatly before he could say anything. "I'm not going to pretend that I'm an expert on these things, but gold is too weak and too heavy to be used effectively in battle."

The shop keeper glared at me, and opened his mouth to say something when another voice rang out in the shop.

"Looks like you've been caught, huh keep?" said the voice. Where the hell did that come from? Someone hadn't come in since Louise and I, and there wasn't anyone in here before that besides the clerk.

"Shut it, Derf!" the clerk snapped, agitated.

"Where is that voice coming from?" I asked, bewildered. Magic or not, voices just _don't _appear out of nowhere.

"Over here, in the corner!" said the voice, Derf. I looked over to a corner that housed a barrel of discount swords.

"Are you... one of these swords?" I asked, tentatively.

"Sure am!" said Derf. Being in front of the sword barrel, I could clearly see the sword moving as it talked. I reached down and pulled it from the barrel. It was a hand and a half sword, about the same size and shape that I'd prefer. What kind of magic could make it talk though?

"How much for this sword?" I asked the clerk. There's no way I'm going to miss out on a talking sword.

"For Derflinger? Fifty gold," the clerk grumbled. I was about to pay for Derf, when suddenly I began feeling rather... strange. Or rather, I could feel something strange emanating from somewhere in the room. Leaving Derf on the counter, I tried homing in on the strange energy. Despite being strange, it also felt... familiar somehow. Like I should know what it is.

I made my way across the room, ignoring the other, I located the source of the energy as a katana sitting on a shelf. How did a katana get here? As far as I know, the katana is an important piece of Japan's cultural history; this... Halkeginia shouldn't have any at all. And yet, there was this one, sitting here plain as day. And somehow, I was getting the feeling that it wanted me to buy it.

"How much for this sword?" I asked in a near monotone voice, holding up the curved blade.

"Also fifty gold," the clerk replied. I could barely hear his reply. I shook my head, attempting to clear my mind of... whatever was making me focus on the sword. I passed the price money to the clerk, collected my new swords and left the shop.

"Are you alright?" Louise asked me as I was securing the katana to my waist. "You got kind of... weird in there." She eyed me worryingly.

"I'm fine, Louise," I told her as I finished with the katana, and slung Derf over my shoulder. "This other sword was just... calling out to me. I can't really explain it."

"Like I was?" asked Derf skeptically. "I didn't hear any other swords talking."

"It wasn't speaking, Derf," I explained. "It was... it felt like it was trying to call me over with some kind of energy."

"Sounds complicated, partner," said Derf. Talk about stating the obvious.

"You're probably right," I sighed, gazing out into space. "I'll figure it out at some point, though. Just takes time. Focusing on more immediate matters, where can I find a cloth vendor?"

"You mean a clothes vendor?" asked Louise, raising her eyebrow.

"No, I mean an actual cloth vendor," I corrected her. "It would be easier to simply buy a few rolls of cloth and having leftovers, than trying to guess how much clothing would be accurate to do what I need."

Louise hummed at that, and pointed us in the right direction.

**[Scene Break]**

I wonder how long it'll take me to get used to riding horses. Derflinger had spent the majority of the ride trying to crack dirty jokes. Louise spent that same amount of time trying to shut Derf up. I spent the entire time being silently annoyed. Silent, because my burning chafe _fucking hurts. _

I was incredibly relieved the moment we arrived back at the academy; but my relief didn't last long, because the moment I dropped off of the horse, something impacted against me, knocking me over, and sending my things flying about. This something began dragging me off before I had a chance to react.

Ironically, I wouldn't get a chance to see what it was until we got to the stairs in the dorm tower, where I would have thought that I'd have the worst view. Taking in a view of my 'captor', I was rewarded with the sight of that red salamander from before. If memory served, it was Kirche's familiar, who was stuck with an unoriginal name.

The salamander dragged me up the tower, and into a dark room, as the door closed behind us. If my previous comment wasn't enough, then...

"I've been waiting for you~" called a sultry voice from the far side of the room. Uh oh. I managed to push the salamander off of me, and pushed myself to my feet. I don't know what childish nonsense this was, but I wasn't going to have any of it. I sighed and looked over in the direction of the voice, and as expected, there stood Kirche, in what appeared to be rather skimpy night clothes that left very little to the imagination.

"I saw your fight the other day..." purred Kirche, as she began stalking towards me, her hips swaying with each step. "It _really _lit the fires of my passion..." Her eyes were narrowed as she stared at me with amorous intention. "My runic name is the _'Ardent'..." _I took several steps backwards, attempting to get more distance, but Kirche hastened in her movement.

Conveniently, the door slammed open at that moment. Louise stepped in, looking rather angry, and also tired at having toted around two swords, one of which sounded as though it was laughing, and several rolls of cloth.

"Zerbst..." Louise ground out, her eyes twitching.

"Valliere?" Kirche stepped back, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I wonder..." Louise continued to grind out. "When your familiar drags mine off while he's _standing right next to me!_" Kirche's eyes widened at that.

"Flame!" Kirche scolded her salamander. "I told you to wait until he was _alone!" _I just sighed, rubbing my hand on my forehead. Is this girl for real?

"Because that's _totally _the first thing you should worry about. Not that you _kidnapped _me, just that you did it while Louise was watching..." Kirche just pouted at me. "Anyway, I'm gonna have to turn you down on your... interesting offer."

"_What?" _Kirche half shouted. "Am I not beautiful enough for you?"

"If it was about beauty, I'd let you have your way with me without a second thought." This earned looks of surprise from both Kirche and Louise, and a loud round of laughter from Derf. "For someone like me, though, it's not just about physical beauty. The act of mindless sex has no appeal to me. Adversely, I don't actually have a standard for beauty, and would choose any girl or woman as long as they don't look like an old hag. If I did actually have to choose a preference, I'd go for someone of a smaller stature, like Louise or Tabitha."

"But that doesn't explain why you rejected me," Kirche pouted.

"It's because I prefer, over all other things, intelligent conversation," I said gently, as my mind drifted back to my long conversation with Tabitha yesterday. I stepped away from the wall, reclaiming my swords and rolls of cloth from Louise. Kirche just continued pouting.

"I'm not going to give up that easily," she said resolutely.

"Let me offer you a bit of advice," I started, turning to face Kirche. "The more you beg me for something, the more you're guaranteed to never get it. My stubbornness can vouch for that." I smirked for a moment, before turning and leaving the room. The more she tries, the more she'll push herself away from me. I think there's some old piece of wisdom regarding that, but I can't think of it.

After we returned to the room, Louise began changing tiredly. I paid her no mind. I had enough class to not stare, and I was of the mind that if we were going to live together like this, we'd just have to get used to each other.

Laying Derf and the katana on the table, I rolled out some cloth and transmuted a set of bedding. I laid out a sheet over the hay, and tossed a couple of newly transmuted pillows, finally followed by a blanket. I fell over onto the newly completed bed set, putting it to the test. Ahhh... that's good. I stretched out, getting used to the feeling as Louise sat down on her bed.

"How much of what you said is true?" asked Louise, eyeing me suspiciously.

"All of it," I said flatly. "I'm not just gonna lie about something like that. I take things like that seriously, and I'm not just going to lie simply to shake someone off of me." I sat up, looking over at Louise. Somehow, she looked rather unsure. Of what, I had not idea. "You don't have to believe me if you don't want to. That won't change the fact that it's the truth."

Louise just shot me a look of what I guessed was tired indignation, before crawling under her covers. I just fell back against my hay pile again, tiredly slipping sleep.

**[Scene Break]**

I had to wonder. Where did all these students go on the days off? I had only seen one actual day off, but the school seemed rather deserted then. On a school day, the place was _packed. _People kept their distance from me though; whether it was out of respect or fear, I don't know. They didn't show a difference between the two.

I made my way into the last courtyard where the tower dorm was. Part of me was hoping that I would get jumped by Sylphid again. Instead, I spotted Guiche, who was sitting on a bench while staring off into space. Some part of me urged me to approach him, and for reasons unknown, I did just that.

"Hey," I said, halfheartedly. Guiche focused on me and we held a staring contest for a few moments. That's been happening to me a lot lately.

"Hey," he returned, as if to mimic my greeting before staring off into space once again. I took a seat on the opposite end of the bench.

"I hear you've been rather quiet of late," I ventured.

"You gave me much to think about," answered Guiche, waving his hand absentmindedly.

"You've had plenty of time to think," I pointed out. "Have you come up with anything meaningful?" Guiche stayed silent for a few moments.

"I know now that my actions were wrong," started Guiche in a melancholic voice. "I want to make it up to Montmeroncy and to Katie. More than that, I want to make it up to _Louise. _I can't even begin to imagine the pain that she's been abandoned to." I raised an eyebrow. This was the guy that was willing to hurt Louise to get to me, and now he was waxing melancholy over her pain? I didn't know whether to be irritated, or proud that my words actually got to him.

"As far as Katie and Montmeroncy go," I started with a sigh, "it should be as simple as apologizing. Like it or not, you don't have the right to _expect _forgiveness at all, and that should be made clear as well. Louise, though... her case is going to be a far sight more complicated. A simple apology isn't going to be enough. If it were me, I would pledge to help solve her problems; even if there are no solutions, acting as a moral support could help her more than you can imagine."

**Meanwhile...**

Somehow, Kirche felt the need to go into detail about her attempt at seducing Draskir. As ever, she wasn't sure if Tabitha was even listening, but she failed to notice that as she went on, Tabitha gripped her book with increasing strength.

"...but when I had him _right _where I wanted him, he just _rejects _me!" half shouted Kirche. Tabitha let out a breath that she hadn't been aware she was holding. Kirche barely noticed, but noticed she did. She narrowed her eyes at Tabitha, who appeared to be somewhat relieved.

"I think he said something about liking intelligent conversation," said Kirche, deciding on a small gamble. Said gamble payed off when a small smile played its way onto Tabitha's features, and Kirche took a moment to deliberate on this.

"Why are you smiling?" Kirche asked playfully. Tabitha's eyes shot up in shock, and she began an attempt at hiding behind her book to try and hide her blush.

"You _want _him, don't you?" she teased. Tabitha just shrank back into her spot, fully covering herself with her book. Chuckling, Kirche switched to a more serious attitude.

"It's fine if you do," said Kirche softly. "If you're serious about wanting to be with him, then I can back off. He did say that he wouldn't let me have him anyway." Tabitha peeked her eyes out from her book, before lowering the book completely, with a small smile.

* * *

><p><strong>Post note:<strong>

So that's a bit shorter than usual, but it also does mark the end of Act 1. The next chapter will start the foray into the Foquet sequence, and I've got a general idea as to how I can make it a bit different than usual. Also, Draskir is going to get a new power in the next chapter, and we'll go a bit into his true nature as well.

Finally, I do apologize if characters are OOC! I've never really actually tried capturing the personality of a character before, so you can imagine that I'm not good at it yet.

Don't forget to review! I've had a bunch so far, and the ones they all have been helpful and thought provoking.


	4. Chapter 4 - Rumors of Thieves - Part 1

**Author's Note:**

Review reply, _hajimeyo!_

ChaosxPaladin: Draskir will ultimately have a few powers, and the powers themselves will offer variety, but in the end the powers themselves will be few. My plan is to try and have Draskir learn about these powers at a decent rate, and have Draskir become more proficient with these abilities as time goes on. Any tips on good progression are always welcome!

Bradbot: Yeah, that was a bit of an oversight. Personally, I would think that the bedding set would be simple and easy for a beginner, but there's a small plot point that makes up for it, albeit slightly cheap, I feel.

Be warned! The first part of this chapter contains a bit of spoiler for the ending of Fullmetal Alchemist:Brotherhood! If you haven't seen it, you're in for a bit of a spoiler!

* * *

><p>This bloody mountain again. Every night when went to sleep, I would stand on this frickin' mountain top.<p>

"At least it's not cold this time..." I muttered aloud. I was getting tired of this; every night I spent dreaming of this mountain was a night that I didn't get good rest; and it reminded me too much of the Throat of the World from Skyrim.

"It is not cold because you are more attuned than before," said a hollow voice behind me. I turned sharply to get a view of the source, only to find an empty suit of armor standing before me. This armor took the shape of a Dragonbone set from Skyrim; that's another similarity. Was this supposed to be a trend of some sort? Either way, there was definitely something familiar about this armor, and not just regarding the similarity to Skyrim. I was about to ask who the armor was supposed to be when it spoke again.

"It seems I have finally reached you," the armor said, and that's when it clicked.

"You're the being that was calling to me from the sword!" I exclaimed. The armor nodded, seeming satisfied that I made the connection. "So, what is this place?" I looked around, taking in the vaguely familiar terrain.

"It is the embodiment of your soul," the armor said. I looked at it with confusion; how could this place be my soul?

"What, like an inner world?" I asked, confused. The armor nodded again, then spoke again.

"In the distant past, there was once a world known as Nirn," The armor said. That was a reference to the Elder Scrolls series as a whole, but for what purpose? "In the earliest times, the dragons ruled over the northern lands of Tamriel, but were defeated by the Dragonborn. Thousands of years later, the Last Dragonborn defeated Alduin, the World Eater. Unfortunately, Alduin was not truly destroyed; a few years later, He returned to Nirn to fulfill his destiny as the World Eater; and so he consumed the world."

I just stared, shocked. Everyone who ever played Skyrim knew that Alduin would be defeated at the end, but to come back and actually destroy the world? Not only that, but have actually happened outside of the game series... my head was beginning to hurt. Still, the armor continued it's story.

"Upon death, every Dragonborn's soul is returned to Akatosh, to be purged and recycled to Nirn for a new life. For reasons unknown, the Last Dragonborn's soul escaped this purge, and left the remnants of Nirn to find a new host on it's own. This soul eventually found a new host. This newly made Dragonborn grew up, and when he matured, he became able to speak to the mind of the Last Dragonborn. The Last was able to teach his new successor, and this successor was able to learn of the Dragonborn's power, while simultaneously adding his own power to the soul. Upon this second host's death, his mind was stored within the Soul of Dragonborn, and the Soul left that world to seek another world, and another host. Every host, once mature, is able to speak to any of the minds stored within the Soul."

"And it just kept going like that?" I asked incredulously. "Like a cycle?" The armor nodded. If this was going the direction I thought it was...

"And the mantle has now fallen to you," The armor proclaimed. Yup. So I was a Dragonborn. The thought both thrilled and terrified me. Another thought hit me; this could have actually explained my sudden use of Alchemy.

"Is that why I'm able to use Alchemy?" I asked. "One of these... predecessors was an Alchemist?"

The armor turned and gestured towards the center of the clearing, where the sleeping form of _Edward Elric himself _materialized in front of us. "Each host is also able to channel the powers of all previous hosts; your fight against Guiche put you into a position that allowed you to come into contact with Edward Elric's mind, and you became able to channel his knowledge of Alchemy through your own being."

"How...?" I asked, dumbfounded. "I thought Ed lost his Alchemy at the end of his journey!"

"In some cases, yes," The armor started, "but it is not always so. There are many timelines, and many possibilities for difference, no matter how small or large. In some cases, the journey may... not entirely be successful. _This _Edward Elric did not sacrifice his Alchemy to save his brother, for the opportunity to do so had already been lost to him. Not every story has a happy ending."

There was a timeline that Ed couldn't save his brother? The thought was startling in itself, but it was more startling to find out that it had actually happened... All the answers yielded more questions. Where do I begin?

Why was I chosen as the next Dragonborn?

What happened in this Ed's timeline that he couldn't save Alphonse?

Why was I summoned to be Louise's familiar, out of all the things she could have gotten?

And that was just to name a few off the top of my head. I had one that I could start on an answer, though.

"Who are you even supposed to _be?" _I asked the armor.

"I am the remnant of an old ally of the Last Dragonborn," said the armor, gazing over the clouds that surrounded the peak. "I am merely a fragment of what once was; currently, this fragment resides within your curved blade, serving as a link to one of your predecessors who took the title of Soul Reaper, or Shinigami, whichever you prefer."

"Soul Reaper?" I questioned, attempting to put the pieces together. "Wait, are you saying that you're some type of Zanpakuto?"

"More of a pseudo-Zanpakuto, as my essence does not share that of what makes a Zanpakuto. I do believe that my power could be used as such, however; I would suggest experimentation."

I nodded. I had always wanted a Zanpakuto, and this armor just proclaimed himself to be a sort of similarity to such; in theory anyway.

"So what's your name?" I asked. "If your power works similar to that of a Zanpakuto, then knowing your name would kind of help."

"I cannot remember my full name," said the armor with a melancholic tone. "But it began with 'Od'."

**[Scene Break]**

I'd had the entire day to think about my 'dream' of the mountain, and what I'd found out there. I'd had a chance to talk to Tabitha about it earlier, but she didn't have any ideas that could branch out into anything. I would have talked to Siesta about it, but she seemed a little to starstruck at simply being next to me to even listen to what I said.

Louise was another matter entirely; ever since we got back to the room, she had been complaining about this 'Exhibition Fair', whatever that was.

"What am I going to _do?" _wailed Louise. "I don't have anything meaningful to show at the Fair!" She looked like she was about to start sobbing, but at the same time, she looked like she was too frustrated to do even that. I was about to ask her about this Fair when there was a knock at the door. Louise calmed down immediately, likely for fear of being seen in distress. I sat back in my seat as Louise answered the door. As soon as it was open, a cloaked figure threw it's arms around Louise in what appeared to be a rather enthusiastic hug.

"Oh, Louise Francoise!" the figure exclaimed. "It has been too long!" From the voice, I could tell that this person was a girl.

"P-princess!" shouted Louise. I would have spit-taked at that, had I been drinking anything. A princess? Here? What kind of guard lets the princess run free? And why would she come here?

"Oh, come now, Louise Francoise!" exclaimed the princess. "We are in private, are we not? You may use my name, you know."

"Alright, H-henrietta..." Louise stuttered nervously, "but we a-aren't exactly a-alone..." She gestured to me, and I waved nonchalantly as the princess' gaze fell upon me. The princess, Henrietta, raised one hand over her mouth.

"Oh! I do apologize," said Henrietta, curtsying slightly. "I was not aware that Louise Francoise was sharing a moment with her lover..." I nearly face-palmed as Louise began blushing madly.

"We're not lovers," I said bluntly. "Louise summoned me to be her familiar, but we've settled into a partnership rather then a master-servant relationship." No way in _hell _was I going to let anyone think that me and Louise were together; not trying to say anything bad about Louise, but she really wasn't my type.

"I see..." the princess trailed off, not really seeming to understand. I laid back down on my bedded hay pile.

"My name is Draskir," I introduced myself nonchalantly. "Nice to meet you." I was aware that I was probably being rude, but I generally tried to speak to all people equally, unless they gave me reason to do otherwise.

"It is good to make your acquaintance," said Henrietta, bowing slightly. "I wish you luck with the Exhibition Fair tomorrow."

I really needed to find out about this Fair.

**[Scene Break]**

"Not happening!" I all but shouted.

"Why not!?" shouted Louise in turn.

"No way in _hell _am I getting in front of a crowd for the simple sake of showing off!"

I'd finally found out what that Exhibition Fair was. It was a chance for each mage to show off what their familiar could do. For Louise to participate, it would require me performing.

I _hated _performing. More than that, I hated performing for an audience. I'd always detested drawing unnecessary attention to myself; it was an important trait for a young geek growing up in modern society, especially middle and high schools.

"But you _have _to! I won't get another chance to prove that I'm a good mage!" wailed Louise. I face palmed. That's what she's so worried about?

"Why do you even care about what they think?" I asked her. "If you want to be a good mage, then work for it! Your skill doesn't come from being acknowledged, it comes from actually putting the effort in! If you want me to help you be a better mage, then I'll help, but I promise you that it won't come from me performing for a friggin' audience!"

Louise just pouted at me.

It was then that the ground began to shake.

"Oh, what now?" I asked, irritated. The ground quaked again, and I could somehow feel the direction that it was coming from. Taking off, I ran toward the source of the quake, Louise trailing behind me somewhat.

Arriving in the next courtyard, we came face to face with a giant rotund golem. Looking up, I could make out a figure standing on one of the golem's shoulders; unfortunately, it was cloaked, so I couldn't see their face.

"It's Foquet!" shouted Louise, attracting the attention of the cloaked figure.

"Who!?" I shouted back. Who the hell was this Foquet?

I didn't have time to think about it though, because this golem wanted us out of the picture. It directed one of it's fists at us, and I pushed Louise away. With her in safely away from the damage, I ran forward, drawing Derf and Od. I dodged under the other fist, and performed an action taken directly from Mirror's Edge by running up the wall a few steps, before vaulting away, landing on top of the golem's arm.

I started running up the golem's arm; I didn't make it very far, as the golem brought it's other hand down on top of me. I barely had enough time to bring my blades up and keep the hand from crushing me. I strained against the sheer force, feeling my knees buckle beneath me. I heard Louise shout something, and something exploded. As a result, the arm I was standing on was suddenly falling.

Did Louise manage to blow the arm off? I landed on my back, near the fallen arm. My vision was blurred; I could barely hear the sound of another explosion. I rolled away from the wall, barely missing the falling rubble. As I re-oriented myself, I could barely tell that the explosion had blown a hole in the wall. The golem's remaining arm was extended towards the hole, and the figure was nowhere to be seen. They must have ran into the room.

Shaking off the new found pain, I ran back towards the wall. Having dropped my swords when Louise blew the arms off of the golem, I clapped, and used Alchemy to begin closing the hole in the wall, just as the figure ran out. It was just a tad bit too late though, as the hem of the cloak got caught in the hole. The hole closed completely, pulling the figure back to the wall. This apparently caught them by surprise, as the golem's arm fell away, causing the figure to begin hanging by the neck.

They flailed about for a moment, before managing to pull a knife and cut the bindings of the cloak. Falling to the ground, they... she(?) gasped for breath. I dashed to one side, reclaiming my swords, catching the woman by surprise once again, as people began arriving in the courtyard.

"M-miss Longueville!?" shrieked Louise. Was this woman someone that these people knew?

Longueville apparently realized her situation, barely able to suppress panic. The teacher from the summoning appeared, alongside an old man, followed by other teachers and guards. Longueville grabbed up a box that she might have stolen from the tower, and used the remnants of her golem to fling herself over the walls before anyone could react to the situation.

I returned to Louise's side, as she leaned against a wall, clearly fatigued. I placed one hand on Louise's shoulder for support and she grinned at me weakly.

"That was some intense stuff there!" piped up Derf.

"You're tellin' me?" I chuckled.

I looked around at the rubble, then at the group of arrivals. The old man beckoned me over, looking rather concerned.

"Did you know her?" I asked the old man, but it was the balding teacher who answered.

"That was Old Osmond's secretary, Miss Longueville, no doubt about it," he sighed, looking aggrieved. "To be the legendary thief Foquet... she had us all fooled."

"And now she's made off with the Staff of Destruction," the old man pointed out. The staff of destruction? That box she had didn't look like the right size for a staff of any sort. "Why don't we take this to my office?"

**[Scene Break]**

"Mister Familiar, could you recount the events leading up to our arrival?" the old man, Osmond, asked me.

"My name is Draskir," I started, "and the short version is that Louise and I felt the ground shaking. When we went to see what the cause was, we found the giant golem trying to break into the tower. We engaged it, but it managed to overpower us. I'm not sure how Foquet made it into the tower, but she had to lose her cloak on her way out. That's when you arrived."

I had made sure to grab that cloak before coming up to the Headmaster's office. I had an idea of what I could do with it, based on what Od had told me.

My story had apparently sparked some debate among the staff. Said debate began fanning out into a full argument, right as I heard the door shift behind me. Turning, I saw Kirche and Tabitha slip in, unnoticed by all except for myself, Louise and Osmond.

I nodded a greeting to Tabitha, who nodded in return.

"Zerbst!" hissed Louise. "What are you doing here!?"

"We wanted to see what was going on," whispered Kirche. Tabitha nodded her agreement.

My attention was drawn back to the argument, which only continued to escalate. Were these twits serious? All they do is argue, and it doesn't even sound like any of it was going to help in actually locating that thief.

"Enough!" I shouted, silencing the room. "While you all sit here and argue like children, the thief continues to flee! The longer you all take, the farther she gets! If you're just going to sit here doing nothing, then I'll go after her _myself!" _

As everyone stared at me with varying looks of surprise or incredulity, I glared at them all with a look of annoyance.

"How do you plan to track the thief down?" asked the balding teacher, Colbert. That was a good question. If what Od told me had any truth to it, then I had the potential to learn some Soul Reaper abilities; for truth, any power I can get, I'll use. With whatever strength I'm capable of, I'll do anything possible to protect the people I care about.

But that's off topic; I remembered a particular spirit power from the early parts of the Bleach story that I could have used to track the thief.

"This is the cloak that Foquet dropped," I said, laying it out on top of a nearby table. "If I'm right, then I'll be able to use this to track the thief."

I held my hands over the cloak, attempting to focus my energy through my hands. My runes began to glow as I called upon the power within my soul. A blue aura began to envelop my hands, moving it's way both up my arms and down onto the cloak itself. After a moment of continued focus, my efforts bore results. A white ribbon appeared from the center of the robe, billowing slightly upward.

"Spirit ribbons," I stated proudly, grabbing at the ribbon. "The thief is north of here, roughly four kilometers out." I turned to Tabitha. "I'll need some help taking her out. Can you help, Tabitha?" Her eyes might mine for a few moments.

"I'll help," she murmured, nodding slightly. This earned a small commotion of murmurs and hushed whispers from the staff.

"I'll go too!" exclaimed Louise and Kirche at the same time. I confirmed this, then ignored them as they started ribbing at each other again. I turned back to the Headmaster to await his response.

"Very well..." sighed Old Osmond. "I would not have desired to leave this task to children, but as no one else has stepped forward, we are left with no other choice. Please bring back the Staff, and do try not to get harmed in the process."

I nodded my confirmation, and led our group away to prepare for combat against the thief, Foquet.

* * *

><p><strong>Post Note:<strong>

Alright, that's another chapter down! Things are starting to pick up, I feel. We had some insight into Draskir's true nature; what are your guys' thoughts on that?

I realize this one was a bit shorter than usual, but there was some more action bits.


	5. Chapter 5 - Rumors of Thieves - Part 2

**Author's Note:**

So this one took a bit longer to get going.

Bradbot: One of Draskir's "Predecessors" was a Shinigami, so Draskir can use Shinigami powers without actually being one; Od is kind of representative of that, being able to emulate the power of Zanpakuto without actually being one. (It's a little confusing, I know)

That's it for review reply, let's get started on the actual chapter!

**EDIT:**

It's been a couple of days since I posted this chapter; after the most recent review, I figured it would be a good idea to add in a little more detail at a couple of points in the chapter, to help build a little more of what's going on. I'm aware of how rushed this chapter feels, and I'm going over it to try and reduce that feel.

I'm also aware of how I missed a bit of development between Louise and Draskir; I'm gonna try and focus a bit on correcting that in the next chapter! Part of my editing here is to try and help build that up a bit.

Thanks ChaosxPaladin for pointing that out!

* * *

><p>I must ever emphasize on my hatred for these towers. So many hallways and staircases; annoying buggers.<p>

We were kind of speed walking down the stairs. I didn't know if my decision was a good one; unfortunately, I was the only one who had actually thought to chase after the thief, Foquet.

"We're going to need to move quickly if we're going to catch up with Foquet," I said to my companions.

"We should take Sylphid," Tabitha said softly. I nodded my confirmation. If it could help us catch up faster, I'd take it.

We reached the courtyard. Tabitha whistled softly, catching Sylphid's attention. Sylphid made her way over to us, kneeling down to let us on. I climbed up onto her back, then reached down to help the others up. I pulled Tabitha up first, and together we pulled up Louise and Kirche. Once everyone was settled, Tabitha directed Sylphid into the sky.

It was my first time flying on the back of a dragon; indeed, it was actually me third time flying in anything, period.

"We should decide on some sort of a strategy," I said, "If that golem shows up again, I'll be up front. Using alchemy tires me out, so I need to rely on my swords for this fight. You three should hang back and use ranged attacks. If I'm able to distract the golem, it'll be easy pickings for you three to take out."

"I'll be up close," Tabitha said, giving me a somber look. "Safer for you that way."

I sighed. If it made her feel better, then I guess I'd just go with it. We sat in silence for a while; There wasn't really a whole lot more to say until we actually got close to our destination.

"We're less than half a kilometer out now," I said, "so we should probably go the rest of the way on foot. Better for keeping the element of surprise."

Sylphid landed in a moderately sized clearing, and we dropped to the ground.

"We should spread out a bit," I said quietly. "I'm still new to this spirit ribbon tracking thing, so can't pinpoint Foquet's specific location, only a general area. Keep your eyes open and pay attention to everything that moves."

We crept through the woods slowly. As we moved silently, we came upon a small clearing. In the center of the clearing stood a small shack. I motioned for Louise and Kirche to hang back as Tabitha and I crept into the clearing. Suddenly, the ground quaked and the golem rose up out of the ground near the shack.

"Did you _seriously _think you could sneak up on me here?" shouted Foquet, who appeared on the golems shoulder, her green hair billowing in the wind.

"I can hope, can't I?" I muttered. The golem threw a fist at me. I drew my blades and managed to block with only Derflinger; it was incredibly strained though, and took nearly all of my strength to prevent myself from being knocked over.

"Tabitha, freeze the arm!" I shouted with a strained voice. Tabitha gave a confused look, but complied. As the arm began freezing over, I swung up with Od, knocking the arm upward. As the arm came crashing back down, I swung with both Od and Derf, causing the arm to shatter at just above the wrist.

I was about to give Tabitha my thanks when I got blind sided by the other arm, sending me flying into the shack, crashing through the wall. My body settled against a wall on the far side of the shack, and I laid there dazed. How the hell did I manage to get blind sided like that? I'm pretty sure it broke a rib or two, because my sides felt _awful. _Tabitha appeared before me, helping me to my feet.

"Thanks..." I mumbled painfully, looking around as my vision began to clear. There was mostly rubble from the newly broken wall, but I spotted a box laying in a corner. On closer inspection, it looked rather similar to the box that Foquet made off with in our last encounter.

"Isn't this the Staff of Destruction?" I wondered aloud. Tabitha started at that, as I reached down to take a hold of the box. Tabitha knelt beside me as I undid the clasp, opening the box.

"No way," I muttered. "No _fucking _way." I nearly face palmed. In the box was a rocket launcher. A fricking _rocket launcher. _How the _hell _did a rocket launcher find it's way into this world? Actually, I don't want to know. I didn't look too difficult to figure out.

"This'll make things a tad easier," I said, helping Tabitha to her feet as she looked curiously at the launcher.

"Stay to the side; you'll be burned if you stand behind me," I informed Tabitha. I took aim, catching the golem in my cross hairs. It took a few moments to find a suitable point to fire, but I saw the opportunity and fired. Readying my blades, I dashed out after the rocket, keeping myself hidden in the smoke. I emerged from the smoke moments after the rocket made contact with the golem. I barely managed to catch the sight of Foquet landing in a heap not too far from me.

"What... just happened?" Foquet muttered, attempting to push herself up. She caught sight of me approaching as she pushed herself to her knees.

"You just lost," I said, attempting to command a voice of authority. I then whopped her on the back of the head with Derf's hilt. Foquet sprawled out, unconscious. I'd have chuckled at the sight if I hadn't been in pain; I always regarded such sights of rag doll physics with an air of amusement. I sheathed my blades, rubbing my sides lightly to try and assuage the pain.

"Things really get explosive when you get involved, eh partner?" laughed Derf.

"Seems so," I said. It was interesting how that seemed to be happening lately.

Tabitha emerged from the shack, carrying the used rocket launcher. Kirche and Louise came jogging up to us, looking moderately bewildered.

"What just happened?" Kirche asked as I reclaimed the launcher from Tabitha, holding it up for them to see.

"Turns out, the supposed 'Staff of Destruction' is a weapon from my old world," I stated with mild amusement. "Weapons like this are used to cause explosions, like you just saw." I handed the launcher back to Tabitha, and scooped up Foquet's unconscious form, slinging her over my shoulder, cringing slightly from the pain.

"Are you alright?" asked Louise with a worried look. "That golem hit you pretty hard..." Kirche and Tabitha both nodded in agreement.

"I'll be fine," I mumbled. "If it means that much, I'll have it looked at when we get back. For now, we should get back to the academy. They'll want to know that we've succeeded."

**[Scene Break]**

Somehow, the trip back to the academy was rather long and awkward. It might have had something to do with how no one said anything for the entire trip back; Louise seemed rather shaken up. I had to remember that this whole affair was likely one of her first times in live fire combat.

We made it up to the Headmaster's office once again; sneaking a peek at my phone, I saw that only an hour had past since we had left initially. Pushing the door, the room came alive with excitement and bewilderment as our group returned from our mission.

"You're back!" exclaimed Colbert. He looked relieved; that seemed a comforting thought.

"I am both relieved and unsurprised at this victory," said Osmond. "Draskir has proven his skill twice over. On top of that, Miss Zerbst is a triangle class mage, and Miss Tabitha is a Chevalier from Gallia. And Miss Valliere..." He trailed off for a moment. "Ah! Miss Valliere is the daughter of a Duke."

"Are you serious?" I demanded, my eye twitching involuntarily. "You use her being someone's daughter as a compliment instead of her skill? You could at the very least say that she's good at blowing things up. _That _is certainly more useful in a fight than being a Duke's daughter." I glared at the old headmaster angrily as I dropped Foquet's unconscious form off to one side.

"Ah, yes... I suppose that is true," Osmond half-mumbled awkwardly. "Now may be a good time for everyone to return to their responsibilities."

The majority of the staff began emptying from the room. I turned to leave myself, but was stopped when Colbert called out to me.

"Ah, Draskir, could you hold for a moment?"

I stopped, tapping on Louise's shoulder to get her attention. I motioned for her to remain as I turned back to face Colbert, who was still standing next to Osmond.

"Are you sure you wish for Louise to remain?" asked Colbert. "This is very important so..."

"She stays," I interrupted. "It doesn't matter how important or personal it is; Louise is my partner, and so has a right know everything that I do."

"I... concede your point," said Colbert apologetically, before setting a more stony face. "May I have a look at your runes, please?"

I slid my left arm out of it's sleeve, holding it up so Colbert could get a good look. He compared the runes to a set that was inscribed on some paper; I guess he was just verifying that he copied them down properly before? Anyhow, Colbert then flipped through some pages in a book before speaking again.

"The runes on your arm read the world 'Alvaldi'," said Colbert. "Such runes are inscribed upon the familiars of mages who are attuned to the lost Void Element. The only Void Mage recorded in history was the Founder Brimir, and each of his four familiars had a specific role. It is unknown, however, what the role of Alvaldi is, as the Founder did not have a familiar who was summoned for the role."

"Alvaldi has the ability to absorb magical attacks," said Derflinger.

"Say _what _now?" I asked. "I can absorb magic?"

"Yup, Alvaldi was a friend of Brimir's," said Derf. "My first partner forged me to try and copy Alvaldi's magic absorption power. Dunno why you've got his name for runes now, but I can feel his power comin' from the runes."

"And you didn't think to tell me about this any sooner?" I demanded. "It might have been a bit useful when I had a giant golem trying to _kill _me, y'know."

"Hadn't thought to tell ya, partner," Derf chided. "Easy to forget a bit when you get to be six thousand years old."

He had a point. Being several millenniums old left quite a bit to be forgotten.

"Time out for a second!" Louise half shouted. "How can _I _be a void mage? All I can do is make things explode!"

"Bein' a void mage is different from bein' a regular mage, missy," lauged Derf. "Even the most basic things are completely different! I dunno the specifics, but ya can't think like a normal mage if ya want yer magic to work."

Suddenly, there was what sounded like a snort or a stifled giggle in the corner. Looking over sharply, I saw a blushing, wide eyed Foquet holding her hands over her mouth. I had no idea what was so amusing to her.

"How long have you been awake?" I asked sharply with a glare.

"Why should I tell you?" asked Foquet snidely. I glared more intensely, resting one hand on Od's hilt. "Ehm, ever since everyone left." She laughed nervously, waving her hands in front of her, as if to say 'let's not be so hasty'.

"So you heard everything," I said with a low voice. "It's very important that everything here is kept secret. I may not know a whole lot about this country's history or culture, but you don't get a title like 'Founder' without being really important. Putting me on the same level as him or his followers could have some pretty bad outcomes; I'd avoid that if possible.

I glared heavily at Foquet again, and she looked away nervously.

**[Scene Break]**

Have I ever mention that I hated parties?

I _hated _parties.

And now I was standing on the outskirts of a large party in some room above the dining hall.

"What's got ya down, partner?" asked Derf. Speaking of which...

"I hate parties," I muttered. "Too many people."

"Have some wine! It'll help!" laughed Derf.

"No thanks," I said. "I've got this thing where I don't drink alcohol. Like, ever."

"Geez, yer gonna be a miserable fool yer entire life, ya know that?"

"Better to be a miserable fool than a violent drunkard."

The guy with the attendance list announced that the guests of honor were beginning to arrive. Since I wasn't noble, I wasn't included in that list; fine by me. Just meant that I wouldn't be attracting people's attention.

The first to arrive was Kirche, and she was immediately surrounded be a large group of students, all trying to nab her attention.

Louise arrived next; she was also surrounded be a group, albeit smaller. I'd guess they were first years who hadn't heard tales of her infamy. Louise pushed her way through the crowd to get to me.

"Enjoying yourself?" she asked. My eye twitched at the question.

"I'm surrounded by a bunch of kids drinking wine," I said flippantly. "I could do a lot better for entertainment."

"Would a dance be more entertaining?" Louise asked me, holding out her hand.

"I don't know how to dance," I muttered, earning a pout from Louise. I just looked on, still mildly irritated at my current position.

That's when Tabitha's arrival was announced. I looked over to get a glimpse and was lost at the sight. She was wearing a simple dress, moderately high cut but also strapless. The gown seemed to accentuate her figure perfectly; I could do nothing but stare, slack jawed.

Tabitha looked around briefly, before looking in my direction, catching me staring. I could feel the blush creep across my face as she began to approach. I barely noticed as Louise smacked my arm.

"What?" I asked her nervously.

"It's not polite to stare," she huffed, looking away as her eye twitched.

"Not like I can help it..." I muttered nervously.

Tabitha arrived before me at that moment, extending her hand towards me.

"Care to dance?" she asked, smiling slightly. Louise narrowed her eyes at Tabitha for a moment, but remained silent.

"Ah... I don't actually know h-how to d-dance," I stuttered, glancing every which way nervously. Tabitha giggled lightly at my nervousness.

"I'll show you," she offered, causing Louise to gawk in surprise. I stared hesitantly at her hand for a moment before taking it, allowing Tabitha to lead me onto the dance floor. Somehow, I was able to ignore Louise's angry, incoherent rambling.

Reaching the dance floor, Tabitha placed one of my hands on her waist and took my other hand into one of hers. It took me a few minutes, but I eventually got used to the motions, moving with her.

Needless to say, I was pretty damn nervous; it was the first time I had ever dance with anyone. We continued dancing to the slow music, somehow moving in time with the music and the other dancers.

"Thank you," Tabitha said.

"What for?" I asked her, cocking my head to one side. She just shook her head, smiling.

"You said you're from another world," Tabitha started. "Do you want to go back?"

I hummed at that.

"I've been thinking about that lately..." I started.

"And?"

"To be honest... I don't think I want to go back. Yeah, I'll miss my friends and family, but I feel like I have the chance to make a real difference here. To actually help people. I suppose I wouldn't mind the chance to visit though, but not if it meant I couldn't come back here."

Our eyes met, and we smiled lightly at each other as we continued to dance, unaware of Kirche's watchful gaze, as well as Louise's angry attempts at avoiding seeing us.

So oblivious were we, as we continued to dance about through the night, lost in our shared moment.

* * *

><p><strong>Post Note:<strong>

Yeah, that was even shorter than the last chapter. Maybe it would have been better to simply write the two chapters together was one?

I'll try to do better with the length in the future.

What do you guys think of this one? I kinda feel like that last bit was a little forced, but I feel like it was an important scene.

As ever, please review! It really helps!


	6. Chapter 6 - Of Lakes and Spirits

**Author's Note:**

It's time once again, for review reply! Hajimeyo!

ChaosxPaladin: Chapter five was rather rushed; I feel like I could have done considerably better with the development between Louise and Draskir. I feel I did better to set it up in this chapter. Also, I went back and edited in a few more lines in a couple of scenes, to try and give Louise some more action/reaction to what's going on. On another note, this fic is going to have it's differences, but will follow the general storyline of the anime.

To everyone else, don't forget to leave comments! I'm still learning the ins and outs of writing fics, so this definitely isn't going to be top notch quality. But with the help of those more experienced, I can make it into something that's at least enjoyable!

One final thing before we begin; those of you who have been here since chapter five or earlier, you may have noticed the title scheme for the chapters has changed up a bit. I did this because it's a little easier to keep track of, and just makes more sense to me. Instead of having 'acts' that will only be one or two chapters long, there's just the chapters that will have shared names if necessary.(Since I'm not actually good at names)

* * *

><p>"So, ah... sleep well?" I asked Louise awkwardly. My miserable attempt at conversation earned only a grunt in response. Louise had been giving me the cold shoulder for a little more than a week.<p>

"You've been ignoring me all week," I said dryly as we came into the courtyard.

"You have others to enjoy your time with," Louise mumbled just as dryly as she entered the dining hall. I just stared after her through narrowed eyes, trying to process what she just said. Others to enjoy my time with? Sure, I had other people I could hang out with, but that didn't mean I couldn't spend time with Louise too. Siesta appeared next to me a moment later, a concerned look about her.

"What just happened?" asked Siesta. "Miss Valliere looked upset."

"I'm not entirely sure," I said, stroking my chin. "She's clearly upset with me over something, but I have no idea why."

We set off for the kitchen to eat breakfast. It was always an interesting experience; Marteau was fun to talk to, and I'd been getting him to teach me how to cook, which I had been wanting to do for a while. After breakfast, I wandered around the academy aimlessly. I had learned my way around most of the place, but it was still a good idea keep it fresh in my mind.

Later, I was hanging out with Tabitha, as had become a daily event. We would talk about every topic from random stories, to current events, and even politics. Today, we were sitting at a table in the middle of a courtyard. Siesta would come by periodically to serve tea or snacks, though mine would generally go untouched.

"You seem troubled," Tabitha commented, eyeing me concernedly. "What's wrong?"

"Something is bugging Louise," I started with a sigh, rubbing my temples lightly. "Whatever it is, it's been making her almost completely ignore me, ever since... ah."

Tabitha cocked her head to one side, and I could almost see the question marks over her head.

"Ever since the ball," I finished dryly.

"She's jealous?" asked Tabitha. I honestly hadn't thought of that; it didn't make sense that she would be jealous because of me. Or maybe it just didn't make sense to me...

"Seems so... but why?" I leaned my head on one hand dejectedly.

"Because you danced with me and not her."

"You think so? It's just a dance though... shouldn't really mean anything. Should it?"

"You're the first person who was really _there _for Louise, yet you chose me over her. It seems natural that she would get jealous."

I leaned back, thinking.

"I think you should apologize," said Siesta, who appeared with more tea. I nodded; however unintentionally, I had obviously hurt Louise. It was a good idea to try and make it up to her.

"You're right. A simple apology may not be enough though..." I mused. "I want to to a little more to make it up to her, but what?"

_Elsewhere..._

"Dammit!"

Louise threw a note pad across the room, it's bindings coming undone as it slammed against a wall.

"Those two _again! _Every day, they sit there! Talking about _nothing!"_

She threw her foot out in an attempt to kick a chair, but missed, and her foot slammed against the wall instead. Louise hopped on one foot for a moment, swearing heavily before falling against her bed. The door opened, revealing a rather somber looking Kirche.

"What do you want now, Zerbst!?" demanded Louise.

"You're angry," said Kirche softly. Louise narrowed her eyes.

"Oh _no, _I'm not _angry! _I'm _completely _content! I..." Louise started, but Kirche pulled her into a hug.

"You're upset that he's leaving you alone, aren't you?" asked Kirche in a serene voice, shocking Louise.

"Why... do you care?" Louise asked shakily. Kirche smiled.

"I know exactly how you feel."

Louise's eyes widened; Kirche must have been referring to Tabitha. Louise smiled almost imperceptibly, wrapping her arms around Kirche.

**[Scene Break]**

I couldn't tell if I should have seen it coming or not; either way, I hadn't seen it coming. I would never have guessed that this world had summer vacations too. I was a little sad though; Tabitha went home for a while, taking Kirche with her. It had only been a few days since they left, and already I was bored out of my mind. Louise, while not as distant as before, was still moderately unwilling to fully participate in conversations. Take for instance right now; we were sitting at a table in the courtyard, sipping tea that was once again served by Siesta. There was an awkward silence hanging over us, as I normally didn't ever initiate conversation. I had no idea why it was so easy for me to talk to Tabitha, but unfortunately, it didn't translate to an ease with anyone else. With that, and Louise's general silence, not a whole lot was being said.

Suddenly, Montmeroncy appeared in one of the archways, looking both exhausted and fearful. She threw a quick look over her shoulder, before running into the courtyard. Apparently, she failed to notice mine and Louise's presence, and aimed to run straight past our table. As Montmeroncy neared us, however, her legs buckled beneath her and she came crashing into the ground next to our table.

"Montmeroncy?" asked Louise, a bewildered look about her. "What are you doing down there?"

"Not your business, Valliere!" seethed the blonde, attempting to sound snide, but failing miserably. I arched my eyebrows as Montmeroncy pushed herself to her feet with a huff. Suddenly, a haggard looking Guiche appeared in the same archway as before. He looked about for a moment, and upon spotting Montmeroncy, bolted towards us with a feral growl. I shot to my feet, and Montmeroncy shrieked and ducked behind me for cover. As Guiche approached, I sidestepped, allowing him to reach one arm out towards Montmeroncy. I promptly took a hold of that same arm, pulling Guiche to the side while throwing off his balance. I kicked one foot out, connecting with his legs to completely eliminate his balance. Letting Guiche fall to the ground completely, I pressed my palms together, and transmuted some of the earth over him in a makeshift binding; he immediately started resisting the binding with a feral growl.

"Care to explain this?" I shot a direct look towards Montmeroncy, who looked away nervously with an 'eep'.

"I-it's none of your business," Montmeroncy started with a mumble, still looking away nervously. Guiche, who had calmed momentarily, began to get frantic upon hearing Montmeroncy's voice. He started shouting incoherently, saying things about 'having Montmeroncy', or 'loving her too much to not have her'. Montmeroncy 'eeped' again.

"Alright!" she shouted, becoming frantic herself while taking a step backwards away from Guiche. "I-I had set up a date for m-myself and Guiche. When h-he wasn't l-looking, I m-might have spiked his d-drink with a l-l-love potion." Montmeroncy shut her eyes tightly as Louise gasped audibly.

"A love potion!" declared a wide-eyed Louise. "But those are highly immoral! And more importantly, they're illegal!"

"I know!" Montmeroncy snapped, looking fearful. "I was just... I wanted Guiche to pay attention to me! I didn't want him to cheat on me again!"

"So you drug him with a potion that saps his free will?" I sighed exasperatedly, rubbing my temples. Montmeroncy opened her mouth to argue, but shut herself up when Guiche started struggling again. After a moment of silence, Montmeroncy turned pleading eyes against me.

"Please, help me!" she begged. "I can make an antidote, but I'm missing some ingredients! I can buy most of what I'm missing, but there is... one particular reagent that is unavailable on the markets right now... Please, could you help me get it? I can't do it alone!"

I sighed again. On one hand, I was tempted to refuse flat out and let her deal with her mistake on her own. On the other hand, Guiche had earned a small grain of respect in my eyes, and thus did not deserve to bear the brunt of the blonde girl's idiocy.

"Fine..." I mumbled reluctantly, somehow wondering if I would regret my decision. "I'll help however I can. What's this super rare ingredient you need help getting?" Montmeroncy's eyes lit up, as Louise' eyes began twitching furiously.

"Questing to earn the affection of yet _another _girl?" quipped Louise in an annoyed town. Did I detect a hint of jealousy?

"It's got nothing to do with her," I said simply, earning looks of surprise from both girls. "Guiche's actions after our duel have won him my respect. I have no desire to see him suffer like this; I will act as I see fit to end that suffering. So again, about that ingredient?" Louise hummed thoughtfully at that, still looking rather annoyed, but moderately less than before.

"It's the tear of a water spirit..." Montmeroncy stated, regarding me carefully. No doubt she was less than pleased that I was doing this for Guiche and not her; tough cookies, I guess. "We have to travel to Ragdorian lake, where my family is contracted with just such a water spirit. It's a few hours away on horse back, on the border between Tristain and Gallia."

That's just great. Because I really needed more horseback riding. I sighed as Guiche started acting up again.

"You seem to know the way," I started, leaning down and conking Guiche on the back of the head to knock him out. "I'll let you lead."

This was going to be a _long _trip.

**[Scene Break]**

I was both surprised and pleased to notice that the philosophy that 'the first time is hard, second time is harder, and then it gets easier' thing was true. It definitely applied to the horseback riding. Thankfully, that meant my chafe wasn't nearly as bad as before, and could be ignored. We were arriving on the outskirts of a town on the edge of the lake... only it looked like it was sitting _in _the lake right about now.

"Didn't you say the town was _next _to the lake?" I asked dubiously, staring across the flooded scenery.

"It was!" half-shouted Montmeroncy. "The spirit must be angry about something..." That could be bad. If it was angry, it might hinder our ability to get that tear or whatever. We rode up the shore a bit farther, coming to what Montmeroncy deemed a suitable point to call upon the spirit. Dropping off of our horses, we tied the reins to a set of thick branches. I left Guiche in his place on the back of my horse; no real need to do anything with him now.

Montmeroncy placed her frog familiar, Robin, on the ground. Pulling a knife, she pricked her finger and let a few drops of blood fall onto the frog's head. The frog then turned and jumped into the lake.

"My name is Montmeroncy Margarita La Fere de Montmeroncy," chanted Montmeroncy. Having the the same thing for your first _and _last names? Ouch. "Oh, great water spirit... hear my plead and answer my call!" The lake water began to ripple. It was very slight at first, but after a few moments, it became more violent. After a few more moments, the water began to pull together and rise into a column. The column of water towered over us, and shaped itself into what looked like a... nude Montmeroncy? Montmeroncy herself blushed heavily at the sight. I'd wager a guess that this was the water spirit.

"I am Mon..." Montmeroncy started, but was immediately cut off by the spirit's movement. The spirit rapidly shrank to a smaller size, roughly the same as Montmeroncy, and moved closer to us. It passed by both of the girls, and I found myself face to face with spirit that was regarding me with what looked like dumbfounded curiosity.

"Is, uh... is there something I can help you with?" I asked nervously, taking a step back. Louise looked as nervous as I did, while Montmeroncy just looked like she was ready to have a panic attack.

"You..." it started, twisting itself around me, as if to examine me closely. "You do not feel human." I narrowed my eyes slightly. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised; it was a spirit after all.

"Can you be specific?" I asked stoically. Somehow, I expected my bluntness to anger the spirit, but the spirit regarded me curiously once again.

"Your inner energy feels similar to that of a dragon..." it mused. I chuckled lightly, earning questioning looks from Louise and Montmeroncy.

"That's right," I said, smiling. "I was born with the soul of a dragon." The three of them reeled back in shock.

"How is such a thing possible?" the spirit demanded, coming as close as possible without physically touching me. I took a few steps backwards; the spirit still looked like a nude Montmeroncy, and I had no desire to be close to that.

"It involves a power from a world long destroyed," I started with a sigh. This was probably going to take a while to explain. "I'll keep it simple; in a world where dragons reigned supreme, the lesser races were granted dragon souls by the gods to... even the battlefield, as it were. A person born with a dragon soul is called 'Dragonborn'. Whenever a Dragonborn dies, their soul is purged by the gods, and recycled to another person who's life is just beginning. But eventually, that world was destroyed, and one dragon soul escaped the purge. That soul sought a new world, and found a new vessel. Since it hadn't been purged, the new vessel was able to speak to the mind of the Dragonborn that came before him, and access his powers. Every time there was a new vessel, they could speak to all of the previous vessels, and use all their powers. It just kept going like that, like a cycle. And now it's come to me."

Silence reigned for a few minutes; surprisingly, it was Louise who broke the silence.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Louise demanded accusingly, eyes twitching.

"I tried to tell you a thousand times, but you just kept ignoring me," I shot back. Louise started to argue, but the water spirit intervened.

"Your soul is the creation of a divine being?" asked the spirit dubiously.

"I guess," I said nonchalantly. "Even if it was, only the first vessel was actually chosen by the 'divine being'. The gods of that world died along with the destruction of the world, so every vessel was chosen by the soul, and not it's creator."

"I see..." the spirit mused. "Regardless, it is an honor to become acquainted with such a being as you. For what reason did you seek me out?"

"First off, I'm still a human, so I'd prefer to be treated as such," I pointed out, one eye twitching. "Secondly, to answer your question, Montmeroncy here requires one of your Tears to complete a potion that will heal a friend of mine." The spirit immediately presented Montmeroncy with the Tear. Montmeroncy fumbled for a moment, nervously accepting the Tear that was presented to her.

"I must ask a favor in return for this generosity," stated the spirit, turning back to me.

"It's only fair," I smirked, returning the spirit's gaze. "What would you ask?"

"At nightfall, two mages come to my shores and attack me," the spirit growled. My eyes narrowed; why would anyone want to attack a spirit? "As long as this continues, my existence is in danger. I would have you end this threat to me." This could be tricky; any mage daring enough to take on a spirit in combat was likely to be a rather skilled mage indeed. Only one way to find out, though, and I do owe the spirit now.

"Alright," I said, rubbing the back of my head. "I'll see what I can do. Montmeroncy, you should stay here and get to work on that antidote." Montmeroncy nodded once, and went to unpack her alchemy apparatus as the spirit retreated into the lake once more. As soon as the spirit was gone from sight, Montmeroncy let out a breath that she had apparently been holding.

"What were you thinking!?" she shrieked, looking at me with a freaked out expression.

"What are you talking about?" I asked dubiously.

"You were _so _disrespectful to the spirit!" Montmeroncy shouted, nearly pulling out her own hair. "It's a _miracle _it let us live!"

"You _did _hear what it said though, right?" I asked, rubbing my temples lightly. "_If _my assumption is correct, then it doesn't matter to it that I'm a human; my dragon soul designates me as a being of equal or higher status in it's eyes." A fact that I'll choose to ignore, thanks very much... "And honestly, I try to be equal in how I treat anything, regardless of _what _it is. Either way, we should focus on more important things. You got the tear that you asked me to help you get. For Guiche's sake, you should at least start on the potion."

"What about me?" Louise asked, mildly annoyed. Montmeroncy growled lightly and returned to unpacking her apparatus.

"That's up to you," I said, glancing at her. "I'd guess that you'd want to either hang back and guard Montmeroncy, or back me up in case a fight breaks out. But like I said, it's up to you." Louise looked conflicted over the decision.

"I'll back you up," said Louise resolutely. I grinned in response; this might be our chance to really see what we could do together.

**[Scene Break]**

"So Derf, how does this absorb magic thing work?" I asked the sword; it had been relatively quiet lately. Louise and I were currently hiding out of sight of the clearing.

"It's a mental thing, I think," Derf mused. He thought? "Try focusing yer mind on the energy in the runes." I did just that, and after a moment of focusing, the runes lit up. "There ya go! Just keep doin' it like that, and ya should be good to go!" I let my focus go, and stared for a moment.

"That was too easy," I said, narrowing my eyes.

"Ain't it good to be easy?" Derf asked, shaking lightly in his sheath.

"If it's easy, there's a chance that it might not be worth it," I said with a sigh. Either way,I'll have a chance to find out in the coming fight. I had to admit, I was still a bit nervous about fighting at all. Before I came to this world, I had always avoided fights. My 'duel' with Guiche had been my first real fight _ever. _Then came the two fights against Foquet, both of which involved that hulking golem of hers, and now I was about to fight two mages who were bold enough to attack a lake spirit. That probably meant that they were highly skilled, which might have meant they'd be out of my range of abilities.

"Are you alright?" Louise asked, snapping me out of my musings with a worried look. "You seem a bit pale."

"To be honest, I'm a little worried about our chances here," I muttered with a sigh. "Any mage bold enough to attack a spirit probably has a bit of skill under their belt..." I sighed again.

"But your that... dragon whatever," Louise pointed out. "Wouldn't that make you stronger than the spirit? This should be easy, right?"

Oh, how I envied her optimism.

"That strength isn't just going to _come _to me," I said, giving her a pointed look. "I have to work hard and train for it. Which means I'll need to actually work out and stop being lazy..." I made a disgusted face, which sparked a giggle in Louise. We fell silent after that.

After waiting a while, I noticed movement in the darkness. Focusing on the movement, I was able to make out two cloaked figures. One of them was rather small and carried a staff; the other was somewhat tall by comparison. I motioned for Louise to stay put, and dashed into the cloaked duo's path. I focused the energy in my runes to activate the spell absorption power, causing a dark red energy to lightly envelop my forearm. Alarmed, the taller figure raised a wand and launched a sizable fireball. As the ball of flame came screaming at me, I held me left arm out, gripping my wrist with my right hand. The flame made contact with my open hand, exploding out for a moment before being pulled into the center of my palm as if pulled by a gravity well. I could feel the burning energy coursing through my body, as if it was strengthening me.

The smaller figure moved, almost too fast for me to see. They must have realized that I could counter their spells, and so chose a more physical attack. I barely had enough time to draw Od before the little figure swung a sizable staff sideways at me. As the likely reinforced wood connected with my blade, I reached back to draw Derf with my free hand. I broke out of the power struggle, swinging Od sideways to knock the staff out of the way. I swung Derf downward, but the figure jumped backwards out of the range of my attack.

I took in a full view of the small cloaked figure that I hadn't had from the distance before. I paused for a moment, seeing the staff that mildly resembled a shepherd's crook, wielded by a short mage that was nearly the same size as Louise. No way...

"Tabitha?" I called. "Is that you?" The figure twitched slightly, and lowered their hood, revealing that it was, in fact, Tabitha. Which meant that the taller figure had to be Kirche.

"Draskir?" asked Tabitha. Kirche ran towards to join us, using a small spell like a torch. Once swathed in the light, I gave a light grin to greet the two as I sheathed my blades.

"Well, ain't this a surprised," chirped Derf. "It's the little quiet missy and 'er not so little friend!" I casually slammed Derf back into his sheath.

"What are you doing here?" asked Kirche dubiously, arching her eyebrow.

"It's kind of a long story," I chuckled, rubbing the back of my head as Louise appeared next to me. "Why are you two attacking the water spirit?"

"Orders," Tabitha said simply. It was a little odd; when we were alone, Tabitha would use full sentences, but when there were other people around, it was one or two worders. The only exception to that was the other day when we were talking about Louise's attitude. But that was on the back burner, so to speak; what did she mean by orders?

"The water spirit is flooding the town and surrounding areas," Kirche elaborated. "Since Tabitha's family controls this part of the land, she was ordered to fix the problem." Well that explained it.

"Okay," I started. "Why is the spirit flooding the lands?" Ugh, this was getting more complicated.

"Why don't we just ask it?" asked Louise exasperatedly. Right, why hadn't I thought of that?

"Yeah, let's do that," I said, sighing deeply.

I just noticed that I sigh a lot. I wonder why?

**[Scene Break]**

It didn't take us long to get back to where Montmeroncy was set up.

"You're back!" exclaimed Montmeroncy, looking somewhat relieved. Then she drew herself up in a dignified posture, as if to hide her relief. And then she spotted Tabitha and Kirche. "When did they get here?"

Before we could answer her, the water shifted and the spirit appeared before us once again.

"As promised, the threat to you has been dealt with," I announced, motioning to Kirche and Tabitha. "These two are the ones who were attacking you; but they were doing so because it seems you've been flooding the area surrounding the lake, including the town. While this threat is over, continuing to flood will probably result in further threats in the future."

"A risk that I must take," said the spirit with melancholy. "I once guarded an important artifact, but it was stolen. For the sake of all, I must reclaim it, even if it means flooding the world."

"What is this artifact that was stolen?" I asked curiously.

"The Ring of Andvari," the spirit growled. "It has the power to restore life to those who have died, but at the cost of binding the restored to the will of the one who wields the Ring. If it is not recovered, it's power will be abused."

"Is that so..." I ground out, my eyes darkened. "If that's the case, then I'd like to make you a deal. If you restore the water to it's natural state, then I'll _personally _track down this artifact and return it to you." I think the spirit was going to argue at first, but upon seeing my darkened attitude, it simply nodded.

"Very well," the spirit agreed. "I shall leave this matter in your hands. The ring was taken by a mage by the name of Cromwell; I can offer nothing more to assist you with this task. I trust that you will follow through on your word." Without another word, the spirit retreated back into the lake, presumably to begin withdrawing the flooding. I stood in silence, taking in the sight of the moon's reflection on the water.

"So what happened that you guys all came out here?" Kirche asked, breaking the silence. I gave Montmeroncy a questioning gaze, who nodded lightly.

"Montmeroncy was on a date with Guiche, and she spiked his drink with a love potion," I said tautly. Kirche's eyes widened in shock as I continued. "She apparently underestimated the strength of the effect, and asked Louise and I to help her get the one ingredient she couldn't get on her own. Which was the tear of a water spirit."

"I would have thought that Montmeroncy of all people would know better," Kirche mused, rubbing her chin as Tabitha nodded silently.

"She probably did know better," I said softly. "But jealousy can make people do things that they know are probably stupid, without a care for the consequences. It's human nature." I waved one hand flippantly. Silence fell over us once again as Louise took a place by my side.

"Why are you so serious about finding this Ring?" asked Louise curiously.

"Allowing it to be used goes against something that I believe in," I said sardonically. "The flow of souls only goes in one direction, and resurrection is impossible. Anything that comes close is only an imitation, a false life. To pull off the imitation is nothing more than an insult to the memory of the person being imitated." I let that sink in for a few minutes, before returning to a more immediate matter. "Montmeroncy, how's that antidote coming?"

"It's just about done," answered Montmeroncy. "It's going to need to ferment for a few hours before it will be safe to drink."

"We should probably head back to the academy, then," I said lightly. "If we need to wait for the potion to ferment, we may as well use the time to head back." I turned back to Tabitha and Kirche. "Will you be joining us for the journey back?"

"Later," said Tabitha quietly. Well, it was worth a shot.

"Alright," I said with a smile. "I'll see you back at the academy." Tabitha nodded with a small smile, and turned to leave. Kirche waved flippantly and followed Tabitha. I turned back to Louise and Montmeroncy. They both looked tired; no wonder. It was dusk when we left the academy, and had taken a few hours to get here. It would probably be close to two in the morning before we got back. "Shall we head back?" Louise and Montmeroncy both nodded fervently. We mounted up and began the long trek back to the academy.

I was _so _ready to get some sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Post Note:<strong>

This was originally going to be two chapters, but considering how short they would both be, I decided to stick them together as one. It definitely doesn't feel rushed to me this time.(Which is probably because I actually spent more than one day on it lol)

Once again, don't forget to review; I can always improve, and it really helps when you guys show me how I can do that.

One major thing that I'm concerned over in this chapter is; did I make the interaction between Draskir and the water spirit realistic? I tried to make the spirit react how anything would when confronted with a being that they believe to be higher than them.


	7. Chapter 7 - Into Albion - Part 1

**Author****'s Note:**

Only a couple of reviews this time, but hajimeyo!

56006: Worry not; since Draskir isn't the Gandalfr,(and therefore unable to master all weapons simply by touching them)he won't have any way to use the zero fighter. It will still be there though. I like the idea of tanks showing up though; if I can get creative enough, I'll see about finding a way to come up with a Halkeginian tank of sorts that crosses magic with engineering, like the ones used by the Fire Nation in Avatar:The Last Airbender.

To no one in particular; I've said before that this will generally follow the anime plotline till the end. Recently, I had an idea that kind of changed that. The story will progress generally the same up until a certain point, and then deviate entirely. Certain elements will remain the same after that point, but ultimately, the story will(hopefully)be different.

* * *

><p>I was sitting on my hay pile bed, leaning against the wall while fiddling with my phone. I had no idea how it worked, but my phone still had a full battery. As convenient as it was, I was running out of things to do with it; playing reversi constantly was a rather dull way to pass the time.<p>

Derflinger's been silent ever since we returned from the lakeside. Despite the blade's sentience, he's been generally quiet the whole time I've known him. It was easy to forget the sentience that rested within the blade.

Montmeroncy's antidote was ready by the time we got back to the academy. It was given to Guiche while he was still unconscious, due to the help of Montmeroncy's water magic. Guiche remained unconscious for a while longer after that, but once he was awake, he got up and left the room without a word. He's been actively avoiding Montmeroncy ever since.

Louise has been fairly quiet ever since we got back, too. It's hard to guess what's going on in her head; with the way we're distanced right now, it's unlikely to change any time soon.

"Draskir?" called Louise tentatively from the table.

Well, I got that wrong, didn't I?

"What's up?" I answered.

"I want to know more about the... Dragonborn," said Louise. Ah; I figured this was coming at some point.

"I don't know a whole lot more than what I said back at the lakeside," I explained lightly, staring off into space. "If you've got questions though, I can try to answer them. No promises, though."

"Do you think you're able to use magic now?" asked Louise. Again with the magic; her volatile inability cast is beginning to seem like a borderline obsession in her psyche, at least to me.

"I would imagine so," I mused, causing Louise to visibly twitch. "Before you get all up in a tizzy, I've been talking to one of the previous vessels of the Dragon Soul. I wasn't going to mention it until there was a definite answer, but whatever. The runes on my arm act as an anchor, binding my soul to yours; that much has been determined as fact. What isn't certain, however, is whether this connection can be exploited."

"What do you mean, exploited?" asked Louise, eyeing me suspiciously.

"How do I explain?" I muttered with a sigh. "These runes bind our souls together; my soul gives me access to powers that I wouldn't have otherwise. If my soul is exposed to yours through the runes, it stands to reason that you might either get access to my powers, or develop unique powers of your own."

Louise nearly fell out of her chair at that.

"And you didn't tell me this before, _why!?" _demanded Louise angrily.

"Like I just said, it's not completely for sure," I explained hastily, eager to avoid any possibility of an explosion in my face. "I wanted to be sure that we could work from it. I didn't just want to get your hopes up, only to let you down if it turns out to be wrong."

"Then why would you bother tell me right now?" argued Louise.

"It's... kind of a habit of mine," I muttered, rubbing my temples lightly. "I tend to... speak without thinking about it."

Louise opened her mouth to speak again, but a knock at the door prevented her from doing so. Ever since I tracked Foquet using the Spirit ribbons, I had been able to pick up on the spiritual pressure emitted by people around me. Thanks to that, I had an inkling of an idea as to who was on the other side of the door.

"I think it's for you," I commented to Louise, who raised one eyebrow at me as she opened the door. The moment she did, Louise was once again beset by the cloaked form of Princess Henrietta.

"P-princess!?" shrieked Louise. "W-what are you doing here?"

Henrietta separated herself from Louise and pulled down her hood with a smile.

"As much as I wish I could simply enjoy your company, I'm afraid I must be here for more... precarious matters," said Henrietta with slight hesitation as the three of us took seats at the table. "Though it is good to see you, Louise Francoise. And you, Dras...kir?"

"That's right," I said, chuckling lightly. "It's good to see you too, Henrietta." Louise stared at me in shock over my casual addressing of the princess.

"Draskir!" hissed Louise, horrified. "You should show more respect to the princess!"

"I wasn't aware I was being disrespectful," I said nonchalantly. "I like to think that addressing someone by their name is about as respectful as it gets."

"But-" started Louise, but it was Henrietta who silenced her.

"It is fine, Louise Francoise," admonished Henrietta. "I doubt he means offense behind it; I do not mind at all. In truth, I would rather speak of the reason that I have come here tonight."

"And what's that?" I asked her seriously. Henrietta took a more serious look on her face as she spoke again.

"I would like to ask the two of you to accomplish something for me," proclaimed Henrietta. "It is an assignment that I may only leave in the hands of someone I can truly trust."

Louise looked at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to answer.

"What?" I asked her as I met her gaze.

"You're the one who usually makes these decisions," Louise quipped, annoyed.

"Two times isn't enough to set a standard for 'usual'," I scoffed, "and both times, it was to help someone who had been wronged. Either way, I was going to leave this one up to you. Whatever you choose, I'll follow you."

Louise glared at me for a moment, then turned her attention back to the princess. In that moment, I picked up on multiple traces of spiritual pressure lingering nearby. I turned a portion of my attention towards them, attempting to hone in on them as the conversation with the princess continued.

"We will gladly accept this assignment," Louise said with an air of moderately annoyed enthusiasm. Henrietta smiled lightly, pleased with the decision.

"I must ask you to go into the country of Albion," Henrietta began. "Wales, the prince of Albion, is in possession of a letter that must be recovered. If this letter falls into the hands of the rebels, a scandal could be revealed which would threaten Tristain's chances of an alliance with our neighboring country of Germania. I have assigned someone to escort you on this assignment; they will meet you at the front gates in the morning." Henrietta paused for a moment, taking a ring off of her finger and handing it to Louise.

"What's this?" asked Louise, nervously accepting the ring. It had a blue gem stone in the center.

"The Water Ruby," answered Henrietta softly. "It is a precious heirloom of Tristain's royal family. You must present this to Prince Wales; once you do, he will know that it is I who sent you."

Louise stared at the Ruby in her hand, in awe of holding the royal heirloom. I, though, was a little confused.

"Are you sure it's not a sapphire?" I asked the princess, who returned my confused look with a confusion of her own.

"What do you mean?" asked Henrietta perplexedly.

"Where I come from, rubies are supposed to be red," I stated, bemused. "A blue gemstone like this is a sapphire, not a ruby. Is that different here?"

"That is... a very good question," said Henrietta. Right as she opened her mouth to speak again I homed in on one of the spiritual energies lingering in the area; right on the other side of the bedroom door. I said nothing as I grabbed Od and got up and made my way to the door.

"What's wrong?" asked Louise. I turned back and raised one finger to my lips, signalling them both to be quiet as I pulled Od from it's sheath. I tossed the sheath over my shoulder and pulled open the door, pulling the entity through and pinning them to the ground before the sheath hit the ground. I held Od against their neck and found myself face to face, once again, with Guiche.

"G-guiche!?" exclaimed Louise, shocked. A wide eyed Henrietta held one hand up to her mouth.

"Why were you eavesdropping on our conversation?" I ground out, annoyed.

"I-I'm sorry!" exclaimed a very pale Guiche. "I simply saw a cloaked figure moving about the grounds and wanted to investigate! After Foquet's attack last month, I just wanted to be sure we were safe!"

I stared Guiche in they eye, searching his fluctuating spirit energy for any possibility of a lie, but found none. I pulled Od from Guiche's throat and helped him to his feet with my free hand.

"How much of the conversation did you hear?" I asked exasperatedly.

"All of it..." mumbled Guiche sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"What's your call?" I asked, turning back to Henrietta. "You're the one who wanted this kept secret. What do we do about him?"

"The secrecy of the assignment must be preserved," stated Henrietta. "With this in mind, we must send this... Guiche along on the assignment as well."

"Absolutely _not!_" shouted Louise, jumping up from her seat. "I don't want that conniving skirt chaser coming along!"

"And why not?" I asked her. "Having an additional person along could make things easier; on top of that, it could help him become stronger as both a person and as a warrior. And frankly, I don't think Guiche is too concerned about skirt chasing these days."

"Indeed," Guiche agreed, nodding as he brandished his rose wand flamboyantly. "In addition, I would relish the chance to get away from the academy for a time." He cast his eyes away at that, lowering his wand. "After all that has transpired with Montmeroncy... It is a good idea for there to be space between us." Louise hmph'd at that and sat back down, glaring at the table as Henrietta gave a slightly concerned look.

"What happened between you and this... Montmeroncy?" Henrietta asked. Guiche looked up, surprised, and began fidgeting nervously.

"Guiche and Montmeroncy had a fight recently, and it's become very awkward for the two of them to be near each other," I explained hastily. It wasn't a lie; Guiche was _very _upset with Montmeroncy once he had fully recovered. Despite having ignored her initially after taking the antidote, Guiche eventually became very angry whenever Montmeroncy tried to talk to him. Soon enough, this led to a loud, nasty argument that nearly blew into a full blown fight that was only avoided because Professor Colbert and several other teachers were present at the time.

"Yeah, it's been _real _awkward for them," Derf piped up. "Especially after that business with the lo-" Louise and I both reached over and slammed Derf back into his sheath forcefully, causing him to shake about. The second we let go, he popped right back up. "The hell was that for!? That really hurt, ya know!?"

"I'm _so _sorry about that!" Louise exclaimed, jumping up and bowing to the princess.

Guiche and Henrietta both stared in shock.

Derf began ranting about the injustice of the treatment of blades.

Louise continued apologizing profusely.

I sighed. It was getting incredibly hot in the room, so I went and opened the window. The second I did, that other trace of spirit energy rushed off and vanished completely. I stared out into the darkness, trying to find any trace of the energy, but it was gone. That it would leave when the window was opened could only mean that someone was listening in on the conversation.

"Before I forget, there may be a possible danger that you must be warned of," said Henrietta, returning to a more serious tone as Derf continued his now incoherent rambling.

"And what's that?" I asked, eager to leave the nonsense behind.

"Foquet has managed to escape once again," Henrietta practically growled. My eyes narrowed instantly, as Louise and Derf both instantly shut themselves up. It was a little strange to hear the princess take that tone of voice, but with that kind of news, it was no wonder.

"And how did she manage this?" I ground out angrily.

"It appears as though she had assistance from an accomplice," Henrietta said darkly. "Foquet was being escorted by a group of guards in a carriage, en route to the capitol, where she would await judgement. However, an unknown person ambushed the carriage and freed Foquet, killing nearly all of the guards in the process. There was only one survivor."

"Go friggin figure..." I muttered as I reclaimed my seat. Not only do we have to go into another country and through a rebellion just to find a letter, there's a chance that Foquet might be coming back to bite me in the ass. How could this situation get any more annoying!?

"Oh, and I would advise you to leave relatively early in the morning," said Henrietta cheerily.

_Fuck._

**[Scene Break]**

I hadn't really realized how far we were going initially. After all of the shenanigans were finally over with, I had asked to see a map of the land. La Rochelle, as it turns out was a whole two days travel from the academy, though if we left early enough we could make the entire journey in one day. I'd imagine that's why Henrietta suggested to leave early in the morning.

Unfortunately, I'm not a morning person at all, and can barely see where I'm going when I'm not trying to suppress a jaw popping yawn. Evidently, Louise wasn't a morning person either. Just as she was letting out a toe curling yawn of her own, she tripped and nearly fell down the stairs as we were headed down the tower. I moved up quickly and caught her before she could gain any momentum. Louise stared up at me for a moment before pushing me away and speed walking down the stairs. She stopped for only a moment when we hit the landing for the bottom floor.

"Thank you," Louise practically whispered, looking straight ahead. She started walking again before I could say anything. As we arrived in the courtyard, I spotted Tabitha reading in one of her usual spots.

"You go on ahead," I told Louise. She gave a somewhat aggrieved look, but said nothing as I left her side. Tabitha looked up from her book as I approached with the usual greeting. "Hey there."

"Hello," Tabitha returned quietly as she stood from her seat on the bench. "You're up early."

"I could say the same to you," I chuckled wryly, coaxing a small smile from Tabitha. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that Louise, Guiche and I are gonna be away from the academy for a while." Tabitha's smile vanished instantly.

"Where are you going?" asked Tabitha, looking more concerned than curious.

"Albion," I said with a sigh. "We're about to head to La Rochelle so we can catch a ship. Beyond that, I can't say; I wish I could, but it's supposed to be a secret." Tabitha nodded once and looked away distantly, still rather concerned. I turned to make my leave, but was stopped by Tabitha, who had taken my hand.

"Please be careful," said Tabitha quietly, her emerald orbs refusing to meet my eyes.

"Uh... okay," I choked out, completely taken aback by her concern. "I promise that I'll be careful." I smiled and squeezed her hand reassuringly. Tabitha looked up at me and gave a smile of her own. I turned and made my leave, making my way to the front gates for the academy. When I got there, Louise and Guiche came into my view.

"There you are," Louise muttered loudly, her eye twitching.

"What took you so long?" questioned Guiche at the same time.

"Getting impatient?" I asked non-nonchalantly. "It only took me two minutes, so-"

"But what were you doing?" Guiche persisted impatiently.

"Just saying goodbye to someone," I said, throwing my hands up defensively.

"Yes, while you were speaking to your _girlfriend,"_ scoffed Guiche, waving one hand about flamboyantly, "Louise and I were here preparing the horses for our journey." I narrowed my eyes at Guiche.

"Okay, first off, she's not my girlfriend," I said, mildly annoyed as I held up one finger. "Secondly, I'll again highlight the part where it was only _two minutes. _The horses would have been almost ready when Louise got here, so there's not a whole lot that I would have been able to do anyway." Guiche glared at me for a moment, and then sighed.

"I'll concede your second point," pronounced Guiche, smirking slightly. "But are you sure that Tabitha is not your girlfriend? You two spend an awful lot of time together." Louise growled something that sounded like 'too much' under her breath, but I ignored her and focused Guiche's question.

"You just assume that it's Tabitha," I pointed out. "Though your assumption is correct in this case. But just because we spend a lot of time together, doesn't mean that we're _together." _I made air quotations just to emphasize my point.

It was in that moment that a powerful gust of wind kicked up. Louise and Guiche staggered slightly as I dropped into a battle ready stance, with a hand on each hilt. I looked around for the source of the wind; after a moment, I found the source to be a griffon that hovered above us. The wind died down as the griffon landed a moderate distance from us. The griffon crouched low to the ground, and I was ready to believe that it was going to pounce on us when someone dropped off of it's back.

"Who goes there?" I demanded loudly as the man came into view. He was tall, barely taller than me. His feathered hat and rugged beard and mustache reminded me strongly of a musketeer.

"V-v-viscount Wardes..." stuttered a very nervous Louise, who began fidgeting heavily. The man... Wardes, approached Louise and scooped her up in his arms, inciting a nervous squeak from the small girl. I narrowed my eyes and held one hand on Od's hilt, but made no movement or sounds otherwise.

"It is wonderful to see you, my little fiance," said Wardes happily. Fiance? My eyes widened as I inhaled sharply, causing myself to nearly start choking on my own saliva. Louise was set to be married? I stared in shock as Wardes leaned down, presumably to kiss Louise. The shock of Louise's marital status wore of at the sight, and I growled and looked away.

"Lord Wardes, please! There are people present!" protested Louise as she tried to push herself away.

"Nonsense! I merely wish to shower my beloved with affection," Wardes crooned, showing no signs of stopping in spite of Louise's continued pleas to stop.

"That's _enough!"_

The very air stilled completely as everyone stared at me, shocked back into reality at my outburst. I stood with Od pointed directly at Wardes, and my other hand resting on Derf's hilt. The look I wore on my face was one of cold fury.

"Put her down, _right now," _I ground out through gritted teeth. Wardes scowled at me as his eyes locked on to mine. After a moment, Wardes lowered Louise to the ground and took two steps away from her. His eyes never left mine. You could almost see sparks flying.

"May I ask what problem you have with my behavior towards my fiance?" growled Wardes heavily.

"Louise said _no,__" _I stated calmly as I lowered my blade. "Are you truly content to force yourself upon her? Regardless of how small or minute your actions might seem, you continued, even as she pleaded for you to stop. I'm not just going to stand by and let you have your way with her."

"But why react so harshly?" questioned Wardes. Seriously? After what I just said?

"Think back to what I just said less than a minute ago," I half groaned, half growled. "With that kind of display, is it really any wonder that I would react like that?" Wardes and I continued scowling at each other for a few moments before a wide grin broke out on the older man's face.

"Truly, the Alvaldi's dedication to his master is unparalleled," proclaimed Wardes cheerily. I narrowed my eyes slightly once more, and even Derf vibrated slightly in his sheath. I imagine he had the same thought as me. How the hell did Wardes know that name? First he pulls that crap with Louise, and then he drops this on me. I _definitely _need to keep my eye on him. I didn't say anything about though; I figured it would be best to save it for a better time.

"It's only natural to protect my important people," I muttered in a low voice as I sheathed Od.

"Very true!" agreed Wardes happily as he returned to his griffon's side. "Will you at least allow me the pleasure of riding with my fiance?" I didn't like that thought. Not one _bit._

"Under normal circumstances, I'd leave it to her own decision," I said, attempting to relax myself a bit. "However, there were three horses prepared for this journey. It would be a waste of time and resources to not use one of them." Wardes hummed in a disapproving tone, but made no attempt to dispute as he mounted up.

"We should be off!" called Wardes from his griffon's back. "Do try to keep up!" With that, the griffon took to the air, circling above us.

"Y-you should not have a-acted against Lord Wardes in s-such a manner..." stuttered Louise timidly.

"Should I have done nothing?" I asked heavily. "Would you rather I let him force himself upon you?" I gave Louise a long, glaring look. Louise looked down, opening and closing her mouth several times, as if trying to find something to say. After a moment, she turned and began to mount up on her horse. I went to mount my own horse, passing Guiche along the way. I stopped and pressed one hand on the fop's shoulder, catching his attention.

"Hmm? What is it?" asked Guiche vibrantly. I opened my mouth to speak, but it was Derf who spoke first.

"That Wardes fella knows about the Alvaldi," said Derf darkly.

"So?" questioned Guiche.

"Everything regarding that name was kept secret," I said flatly. "Not even the princess was told. The only one who could tell Wardes was Foquet."

"But wasn't Foquet freed before reaching the capitol?" asked Guiche, his attitude growing dark.

"That's right," I mused darkly. "And it's said that she had outside help too. Hell... I'm beginning to get a _very _bad feeling about this Wardes guy."

**[Scene Break]**

If I had anything good to say about this world, it's that there's some pretty damn good scenery. We were riding near a cliff side, and the view from the top was _breathtaking. _Or it would be, if I weren't distracted by Louise. She was riding ahead of myself and Guiche, leaving a moderate distance between herself and us.

"I have a question, Draskir, if you'll indulge me," pronounced Guiche in a lively, but quiet manner.

"What is it?" I asked in a similarly quiet tone, turning to face Guiche from my horse.

"How do you feel about Louise?" asked Guiche seriously. "After your display this morning, I find it difficult to believe that you don't feel _something. _Do you love her?"

I hummed lightly at that, searching for an answer.

"I don't know," I said honestly. "I definitely feel _something_ when I look at her, but I don't know if it's love. Something tells me though, if I ever do actually love her, it won't be a romantic love."

"Don't kid yerself, partner!" Derf piped up. "Y'know ya love 'er!"

"I never actually denied the claim, Derf," I chided the sword.

"Ya take all the fun outta it, ya know?" Derf complained, shaking lightly.

"You make it far too easy," I said, a small smile finding it's way across my lips.

At the same time, a group of spiritual pressures entered the vicinity. I homed in on them, and detected four from the left, coming from the cliff side. Another four were coming at us from the opposite side, moving towards the cliffs. More than that, there was a killing intent radiating off of all of them. A group of eight, practically out numbering us two-to-one. Wonderful; because an ambush was exactly what we needed.

"Does something trouble you?" Guiche asked worriedly.

"Incoming!" I shouted as loudly as I could, attracting the attention of Louise and Wardes. "Hostiles on the left and right sides!"

Louise's horse stopped, allowing Guiche and I to regroup with her. Wardes landed in front of Louise, dropping to the ground and drawing an odd looking sword as Guiche and I dropped off of our own mounts. All of the hostiles appeared in sight, attempting us to sandwich us between them.

"Ambushed by bandits," said Guiche reproachfully. "How slovenly. They must see the error of their ways; I believe my Valkyries are up to the task!" With a wave of his wand, Guiche summoned four of his bronze golems. A very good move; the more golems on our side, the more even the odds would be.

"Well, we may actually have a chance with that!" I exclaimed with a grin, causing Guiche to take a pose that read 'it's only natural'. What a ham. The Valkyries charged ahead to engage the four bandits on the right side. Wardes conjured a wind storm, causing all but himself to stagger slightly. Louise began chanting and attempting to launch spells, but the few that actually did anything missed horribly.

I drew my blades and tried to pick a target that I could actually stand against. The four bandits on the left side were on held off by Wardes, while the other four on the right side were busy with Guiche's golems. Suddenly, one of the golems was shattered by a bandit with an ornate great sword.

This bandit was clearly of greater stock than the rest; he wore fancier armor and wielded a bigger weapon. My guess is that this was at least the leader of the team. I charged the bandit, dragging my blades along the ground behind me. As I reached the swinging range, I swung both blades upward, catching the bandit's great sword as it tried to crush me from above. We held our blades there in a lock, both struggling against the other, both trying to push the each other back.

I let my left arm fall limp as I increased the amount of pressure in my right, knocking the bandit's massive sword aside. Keeping up with the momentum, I thrust one leg out to kick the bandit in the chest. The bandit staggered briefly and swung his blade from the side. I bowed down low, ducking under and thrusting forward with Od. My foe dodged to the side and thrusting his own weapon forward. I moved Derf to block, but was a single instant too late as the giant blade dug into my side.

Grunting, I fought against the pain and curled my arm round the weapon, dropping Derf to gain a handle on the great sword. I pulled hard, trying to close the distance enough so as to eliminate the bandit's reaction time. I swung up with Od as hard as I could, but the blade met only the steel of the bandit's gauntlet, blocking my attack. The bandit immediately followed up by kicking me hard in the chest, propelling me backwards along the blade that was still dug in to my side.

My vision whited out, and the next thing I knew, I was on my knees. Derf was several feet away, where I dropped him. I leveled my strained gaze onto my opponent, who now held Od in one hand. The bandit tucked the katana into a spot on his belt and readied his great sword for the killing blow. I was dimly aware of his comrades' spiritual pressures being snuffed out, one by one. I stood up, straining against my pained side. The bandit readied his blade for the final strike. Before he swung, however, there was a great and ferocious roar above the field of battle.

Before I could catch a glimpse of the source, a hail of icy spears rained down on my armored foe. The bandit staggered backwards, managing to only take a hit to one of his arms. Losing the strength to wield his great sword, the bandit dropped the massive blade and pulled Od back off of his belt. I staggered over to where Derf was lying on the ground, and nearly collapsed as I stooped to pick the blade up. I held myself up, however, and readied myself for the end of the fight.

I rushed my foe and swung Derf about furiously, managing to dodge and parry the enemy who wielded my own blade against me. The bandit and I hailed our storm of attacks upon each other as the weapons danced in a flurry of dancing steel. I put all of my strength behind a slash that knocked Od to the side. I redirected Derf quickly in a parallel slash that dragged directly across the bandit's chest. Finally, the fight drew to a close as I thrust Derf ahead and pierced the center of my foe's chest, snuffing the energy of his life out for good.

I used Derf as a crutch as I reclaimed Od from the now dead bandit and turned to look at the rest of the fight. Just as I did, I watched - and felt - as a ferocious Sylhpid landed on top of one of the bandits that was fighting a Valkyrie. Another bandit fell victim to Sylhpid's tail as it flailed about. Sylhpid lowered her head and latched on to the third bandit with her teeth, shaking him about violently before letting him fly through the air. His body landed near me with a _thud. _The final bandit was sent flying off of the cliff as Louise managed to land one of her spells, resulting in another explosion.

"Why is Sylphid here?" I wondered aloud as I returned my blades to their sheaths and returned to the group. Upon my arrival, Kirche and Tabitha came into my view. That explained why Sylhpid was here at least, but that yielded a similar question. "Kirche? Tabitha? What are you two doing here?" My voice strained slightly as the adrenaline wore off, fully exposing the pain in my side.

"We couldn't let you guys have all the fun," joked Kirche, who immediately leaned a bit closer to me. "Besides, Tabitha was worried about you." She grinned teasingly, but when face became strained, she looked down to investigate. "You're bleeding!"

"It hurts like hell, but it's not as deep as it looks," I ground out, turning to find a decent rock or boulder to sit on. "How's everyone else doing?" The rest of the group gathered around where I was sitting. Guiche had a minor cut on one arm, but otherwise unhurt. No one else had taken any damage in the fight. Tabitha stepped forward and knelt down by my side, chanting quietly. She applied some magic to her hands and laid her staff down so she could hold her magically charged hands against my wound. Whatever magic it was stung like hell at first, but the stinging gave way to a more soothing feeling after a few moments.

"How's that?" asked Tabitha quietly, looking up at me.

"That feels great," I murmured, relaxing against the rock a bit. It didn't last for long though, because Tabitha reached up and smacked me on the top of the head with her staff. "Ah-Hey! What gives?"

"I said 'be careful'," groused Tabitha almost inaudibly. My eyes widened and I looked down to see a look of worry play out on Tabitha's face.

"S-sorry..." I said sheepishly, looking away with a feeling of melancholy. I looked up at the rest of the group. Guiche wore a matter-of-fact look. Wardes was shifting his gaze from me to Tabitha and back again, with a confused look that hid the smallest hint of contempt. Louise was looking out over the cliffs with a worried, but also annoyed expression. Kirche went to her side, resting one hand on the much smaller girl's shoulder. Louise looked up at Kirche and smiled briefly. Had something happened between those two? I thought they hated each other.

A few more minutes passed, and Tabitha finished up with her healing magic. I took some bandages out of my sling pack and bandaged my mostly healed wound, just to be safe. That was definitely going to leave a scar. As the rest of the group talked about the bandit attack, I went back out to the outskirts of the battlefield and stood over the corpse of the bandit leader that I had been fighting. Looking down on him, I couldn't help but feel morose over the conclusion of the fight.

"Y'all right partner?" Derf asked, shaking slightly in his sheath.

"I'll be fine, Derf," I sighed, turning and walking to the edge of the cliff side. "That's just the first time I've ever killed someone."

"It's a tough business, I know," proclaimed Derf sagely. "I don't know that it ever gets easier."

"It doesn't need to," I murmured quietly, gazing out across the canyons and valleys that lay beyond the edge of the cliff. "As long as I can protect the people I care about." Derf had no response for that. I turned back and headed back to the group, where Guiche was searching the body of one of the dead bandits. Searching through the pockets, Guiche pulled a letter and began reading from his crouched position.

"What is it?" I asked, curious. Guiche offered the letter to me, but when I looked at it, I was reminded of an ever constant problem. "I can't read your language, Guiche."

"Ah, my apologies," said Guiche, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "The letter reads as follows:

'_Marauding Widow mercenaries,_

_Your group is to lie in wait at the specified location. Take them by surprise. Do what you will with them, but the girl must be taken alive; she is crucial to our success. _

_Payment has already been forwarded to your leader. If you should fail and somehow live, your deaths will be slow._

_Do not disappoint._

_-Reconquista'_

And that's it."

"Reconquista?" I asked, rubbing my chin lightly. "Who's that?"

"It is believed that the Reconquista is the group behind the war in Albion," said Wardes in a low voice.

"So they're the rebels..." I murmured lightly.

"Why would they wish to take Louise?" Guiche pressed. "The letter says that she is crucial to their success. But how?"

"That's a very good question, but one we'll need to ask on the road," I said, motioning to the path. "This ambush cost us some time. We'll be lucky if we get to La Rochelle by dusk. We can think on this later, when we're not sitting out in the open." Nods and murmurs of agreement went around as I mounted up. We still had a long way to go.

And somehow, I feared the kind of trouble that awaited us when we got there.

* * *

><p><strong>Post Note:<strong>

This chapter was originally planned to be a _lot _longer. I wanted to make a longer chapter(and sort of succeeded here), but I didn't want to make it _too much _longer. If I had written the entire chapter to fit the single outline that I wrote, this chapter would likely be upwards at four times my usual chapter size, and easily a hell of a lot longer.

All in all, this chapter is a bit longer than usual, so I feel like I did better. I still have plenty of outline left that hasn't been used, so I can begin work on the next chapter immediately; if I'm lucky, I can squeeze two chapters out of what's left.

Enjoy, and remember that reviews help! Thanks a bunch~


End file.
